Jeff Roberts wrote:
I'm hoping some of the guru's here can help me with a setup issue with
my Marantz SR-18 and my Denon DVD-2900. I've purchased the
required cables to connect the 2900 to my SR-18 along with a few SACD
and DVD-A discs. I'm sitting here with manuals, remotes, sound meter,
and a big "?" above my head cuz I can't get multi channel music to
delite me!

I'm pretty certain I have the 2900 configured properly, I've gone through the
steps and when I play the DVD-A disc the display indicates output to
all channels and that it's in DVD-A mode. Same goes for SACD - all
indications are that the player is doing its thing properly.

I've connected the appropriate cables from the 2900 to the SR-18 as
follows:

FL1 and FR1 are connected to the L/R CD input on the SR-18 and I've
enabled 6-CH Direct for the CD input. The remaining channels from the
2900 are connected to the appropriate Direct inputs on the SR-18, l/r
surround, center, and sub. This makes up the 6 individual channels, as
I understand it from the (less than adequate) manual.

The coax digital output from the 2900 is connected to Dig-4 on the
SR-18 and assigned to the DVD input. I get awesome DTS and DD through
this input.

-------------------

So, I crank things up and I'm playing a DVD-A disc and all I get is
stereo output from the front left and right speakers. The SR-18 does
not indicate that it is receiving input to the other channels. I can
toggle the "Direct" button, same deal, no output from the other
channels.

I've got the same problem with SACD. I only have output from the 2
front stereo channels.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance!

Presuming you are actually listening to the 6-channel analog input of the
receiver rather than a two-channel analog or digial input (easily tested
by removing any connections except the 6-channel ones) , the first thing
I'd check is that the Denon is accessing the multichannel version of
whatever disc you have inserted. Many SACDs have 2-channel SACD and CD
layers in addition to 6-channel. Most DVD-As have a stereo mix as well as
6-channel mix. You have to tell your player to default to these, or else
select them manually.

--

-S.

"They've got God on their side. All we've got is science and reason."
-- Dawn Hulsey, Talent Director