Yamaha versus Denon

[jconde]

I am very new to the Universal player market. I would like to purchase a unit that does bass management for both SACD and DVD-Audio. My 5.1 setup has Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble satellite speakers as my front speakers. While these speakers include floor bass units, I would like to have the low frequencies directed to the subwoofer when I am listening to Stereo SACDs. I am not sure if either of these units can do this. I am pretty sure the Denon can not.

I would appreciate any feedback forum members can give me on these players and this topic.

Thanks you.

 

[jconde]

I am very new to the Universal player market. I would like to purchase a unit that does bass management for both SACD and DVD-Audio. My 5.1 setup has Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble satellite speakers as my front speakers. While these speakers include floor bass units, I would like to have the low frequencies directed to the subwoofer when I am listening to Stereo SACDs. I am not sure if either of these units can do this. I am pretty sure the Denon can not.

I would appreciate any feedback forum members can give me on these players and this topic.

Thanks you.

I forgot to mention the units I am thinking of. I am trying to decide between the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 and the Denon DVD-2900

 

[Dan]

JConde, You're my neighbor (Potomac). I am not familiar with the Yamaha or your receiver and sub. I do have the Denon 2900 and am happy with it. According to Denon the crossover is set at 80 Hz and is second order. They are fixed not variable. You should be sure that your satellite speakers are relatively flat in response to at least 80 and preferably 60 Hz (+/-3 dB).

By setting the SACD to front small, sub yes you can easily direct the LFE to the sub. I believe all the bass management probably any room eq as well of your receiver will be bypassed. I would imagine the Yamaha is similar but the bass management may be somewhat different. While the Denon bass management is fairly basic it is better than most available SACD players currently. All are inferior to the better bass management found on good receivers and pre/pros which is what is so frustrating about it all.

Soundworks in Kensington (I got my stuff there) is a good local dealer for Denon but I don't think they have Yamaha. You could bring your speakers and sub and audition there which Best Buy would never let you do. Since the bass management of the receiver is bypassed it's probably not critical to bring it. Just use something similar there.

 

[av_phile]

I am not familiar with the SACD players you mentioned. I am aware that newer SACD players out there do have some bass management functions that earlier SACD players didn't have. And I believe the newer receivers especially from mid-to-flagships models from Onkyo, Denon and Yamaha, do have bass management for DVD-A and SACD.

But I've seen some work-arounds on earlier SACD players and HT receivers that don't have this feature. Either they use an Outlaw ICBM or a dbx sub-harmonic crossover unit to bleed out the bass from either multichannel (outlaw) or stereo (dbx). I don't know how the Outlaw works but the dbx sub-harmonic crossover takes the stereo analog signal from your SACD player, extracting the bass data at either 120hz or 80hz crossover point from both channels, and routes them to a powered subwoofer. You then connect its high-passed L and R channels to your receiver or preamp.