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Post by JeremyG on Apr 13, 2009 18:36:09 GMT -7
Well, now I don't know if the Blu-Ray player will output the HD audio via HDMI PCM mode. Nothing comes on in the front of the Marantz other than "PCM" and "5.1" when I select a HD track on the Blu-ray player look at the PCM output. The Blu-ray player manual says that it outputs PCM in 7.1 channels when HD tracks are selected. The Marantz manual says that it can accept multi-channel PCM. The player may just be extracting the core Dolby Digital or DTS tracks instead of outputting the HD versions. I guess much more testing is in order. The bass resolution is just to good to be able to get a handle on the subtle differences. So at worst I'll be extremely happy with the outcome. I guess I never thought having an IB would make testing things difficult for myself. It's a tough life we have here.
ChrisBee, you are a lucky man to have a wife who can enjoy the subtleties of our audio obsession. My wife can tell when I'm listening to music, and when I'm not. Sometimes I get a dirty look when I try to impress on her how good a snare is miked or if a kick drum sounds gated. I don't even want to think about a vinyl/digital debate (I'm guilty of leaning digital-don't stone me). But I love her.
Jeremy
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Post by chrisbee on Apr 13, 2009 23:42:54 GMT -7
ChrisBee, you are a lucky man to have a wife who can enjoy the subtleties of our audio obsession. My wife can tell when I'm listening to music, and when I'm not. Sometimes I get a dirty look when I try to impress on her how good a snare is miked or if a kick drum sounds gated. I don't even want to think about a vinyl/digital debate (I'm guilty of leaning digital-don't stone me). But I love her. Jeremy In a way I wish mine were less interested because her hearing is rather more acute than mine in certain areas. She has a remarkable ability to dent false claims for improvements by "upgrading". She has had a lot of practice listening to my systems over many decades. My greatest problem now is supplying enough bass to satisfy her expectations since she helped to drag "our" SVS cylinder upstairs. I don't always agree with her SQ judgements since our musical tastes differ so widely. She has the nasty habit of confirming weaknesses in replay without any prompting. Her belief in large subwoofers as the only real upgrade in over 40 years of hifi has helped to get an IB installed and the recent enjoyment of films. Her tolerance of hours of music every day (particularly loud organ music) is truly remarkable. This priceless behaviour has to be repaid, with interest, by watching lots of very noisy action films at the weekends! She even encourages me to spend money on the system these days. A hobby doesn't get much better than this! ;D |
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Post by JeremyG on Apr 15, 2009 15:57:03 GMT -7
Chrisbee, let me get this straight. Your wife likes big subwoofers, tolerates your music, and actively wants to go to action movies?  |
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Post by chrisbee on Apr 15, 2009 23:53:41 GMT -7
Chrisbee, let me get this straight. Your wife likes big subwoofers, tolerates your music, and actively wants to go to action movies? Not quite. She loves very powerful subwoofers, hates, but tolerates my music (which she calls easy listening because she prefers Metallica, Satriani etc) and insists on us watching several new hired action movies at home each weekend. Provided they have (quote) "plenty of things blowing up". ;D I think the loud rock music and action films are her therapy for having to listen to my organ music, electric folk and Mike Oldfield.  She was quite normal until we bought "her" big SVS cylinder. It all started there. She was never interested in hifi until then and was often quite negative about it.  Now, when the kitchen ceiling rattles downstairs, she runs upstairs like an excited child and wants it to happen again. She even demands I replay the bassiest scenes from the films when we have finished watching. She always turns up the volume for the rolling credits when they have loud rock music playing.  |
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Post by JeremyG on Apr 18, 2009 9:08:45 GMT -7
So I watched "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" last night. With the Blu-ray player outputting HDMI and my Marantz set to "Auto" everything seemed to work correctly and the sound was what I have come to expect. The little THX intro displayed as Dolby Digital only, no HD audio, which is odd, but when the main feature kicked in and the True HD track was selected the Marantz slewed to Multi-Channel PCM and the audio played. Now I just need to A/B between the HD and non-HD tracks by using the "Audio" button on the Sony remote. The tracks appear to change automatically without having to go into the disc menu and then the setup sub menu. Pretty cool. The subwoofer integration was very smooth, and I believe that I will lock in my answer of that the HD track has lower extension along with much better resolution than the standard DD/DTS versions.
Same thing with David Gilmour's "Remember That Night". The sound is pretty good, and using the HDMI digital means that the DSP/EQ/bass management on the Marantz is partially still in use. I don't know if it processes everything, but I know the crossover is still used, and the other speakers act as if the EQ is also still in the stream. None are used in the 7.1 analog input mode.
So it looks as if for my setup everything is correct. Now it's time to throw all of it out and upgrade.
Jeremy
Chrisbee, your wife runs toward the bass? Lord help me if mine's home and I crank it up. We've got pictures and tchotchkies all over the house, and the IB is right smack dab in the middle of the floor plan, so everything gets it. Sometimes she comes home and inspects the house to see if anything has fallen or been vibrated to a new location. I've secured the stuff in the living room, but I can't glue all the cans in the pantry down, you know? Watching "Batman Begins" rattles the beer bottles in the refrigerator. Does anyone have a fix for that? I've got a baby IB. You guys with the monster ones must have saints for significant others. Dirty looks abound during a loud metal night. Ahh... but when it's her Dave Mathews or Michael Buble it's a different story...
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Post by JeremyG on May 14, 2009 19:01:34 GMT -7
Just popped in Rush's "Snakes and Arrows Live" Blu-ray in DTS MA. It was two hours spent sitting center stage. I can't put facts behind this, but it sounded better than being there. The bass was so effortless, tight and smooth that I thought that the bass cabinet was in my living room. Bass guitar, drums and bass synth pedals shouldn't sound this good. I guess I should cross post this to the "IB Musicality" thread. Sound engineers need to start begging for IB's in their mixing rooms. Also, there are some bonus tracks mixed in standard DTS. So I can A/B at will on the same disc. Night and day, ladies and gents. |
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ken
Full Member
Posts: 187
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Post by ken on May 21, 2009 3:04:08 GMT -7
Hmmmmm, l'll have to look that one up , sounds like its well recorded cheers ken |
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