"AL" wrote in message ...
I have SACD-DVD-DV 8400 Marantz
and AV 9000 pre amp (marantz)

This is what I've been told:

need 5.1 cables from SACD to preamp-cost $300 per set-3 sets-

Does this sound right?--it should play multi sacds and dvd audios?
Does this sound ok so far?

What discs -SACD/DVD audio should I get to test--prefer jazz- but just
need something good--

Rest of sysem is Vienna 's and REL Q range sub

any ideas or suggestions?

Yes you need six interconnects, however you get them. $300 a pair? Depends
on your financial resources. Perfectly good high-end audio cables can be
had from the $20 per pair Radio Shack Golds up to the lower end Audioquests
and Midrange Monsters at about $150 per pair. More may or may not buy you
an improvement in sound...I doubt with the Marantz you would hear any
difference.. I've used said cables with everything up to and including my
now outmoded ARC/VTL tube electronics driving Thiel full-range speakers.
The few times I ventured to try more expensive cables, they either made no
difference (one pair) or made the sound worse (another).

As to disks, you might try to lay your hands on both the SACD and DVD-A
versions of Chesky's "Swing Low". When all is right, these two versions
sound identical...which they should since other than their
recording/encoding technology they were made from the same mic feed. The
music itself is a reproduction of the Benny Goodman Trio sound of the late
forties and is quite pleasant traditional jazz. If you hear a difference
between the two disks, the better sounding will indicate in which direction
your Marantz is biased...almost all universals do one format better than the
other. Don't know why, just seems to be the case. I and many other
audiophiles use two machines for that reason.

Good jazz disks built around singing include Jane Monheits' DVD-A's ("Come
Dream with Me" and "Never Never Land" and Susannah McCorkles's SACD "From
Bessie to Brazil". Not only do these disks contain good jazz
instrumentalists playing behind the singers, the singers voices themselves
are very well recorded and realistic in their reproduction in the respective
media.

If you like wailing brass, you might want to try the Chicago DVD-A disks
("II", "V"). On a good DVD-A system the brass will sound very realistic.

For bass, the Telarc SACD entitled "SuperBass 2" is about as good as it
gets.

For all round modern jazz, the Concord SACD "Keystone 2" has very fine sound
and exceptional playing. It featured the Modern Jazz Quintet in 1983 when
both Wynton and Branford Marsalis played with the group.

Hope this helps.