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Denon 5900 Bass Management Answers

>> Assume I have my speakers set to small and use a sub. This means SACD gets converted to PCM, correct? <<

A: Yes. (I gather it's 176kHz with 32bit processing).

>> As I understand it, to avoid this, I need to set Source Direct to ON when listening to SACDs. <<

A: Yes. But there isn't much difference in the sound. In fact, there is a positive benefit because you cut out some of the very high freq one-bit DSD noise by converting to Linear-PCM.

>> Do I also need to set my speakers to LARGE to avoid the conversion to PCM, or is Source Direct enough? <<

A: Source Direct automatically forces all speakers to "Large".

>> Third, assume I am getting unconverted SACD, does turning on the Bass Enhancer do anything <<

Source-Direct set to ON disables the Bass-Enhancer function. (What Bass-Enhancer does is to allow output a full-range signal from the front L/Rs whilst still using the BM crossover to create a sub-bass signal (derived from the fronts) which is also sent to the subwoofer and added to the existing LFE signal.)

>> will my sub get only the LFE signal <<

A: With Source-Direct set oto ON you ONLY get the LFE going to the sub. (i.e. there is NO bass redirect from any of the main speakers).

>> Finally, which settings does Source Direct override (i.e large/small, channel level, distance)? <<

A: It overrides just the size. Speaker distance (i.e. time-alignment) and dB levels still function. (N.B. The Denon DVD-5900 is one of the few players which does have time-alignment with native mode SACD playback.


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  • Denon 5900 Bass Management Answers - Martin419 12:05:05 12/29/04 (0)


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