Question about Analogue multi-channel audio

Thanks for the help. Let me see...yep, the Denon I have is the 1920 also. I found since I posted that the DVD surround does work via the analogue outputs. I've come to the conclusion that the Denon does have a better D/A converter than the Harman Kardon receiver. In music, the sense of space is so much greater its like hearing a new system. My speakers are capable of so much more than I knew. It's that much better! The downside? None really on music, it just sounds better.

On movies, the same placement and sense of depth is much better as described for music, and it seems that the distortion is lower (although specs indicate I shouldn't be able to hear a difference). Voices actually come from the center channel, and surround stuff sounds so much more "surroundy." The only drawback, which is in a way and not in a way, is the difference in subwoofer output and control. Even after tweeking the heck out of the system and matching all channels for volume-and matching volumes for switching between analogue/digital- I found that the DD and DTS converter built in to the HK sends a LOT more bass to the subwoofer. The sub doesn't sound nearly as controlled with the HK, and I don't know why there would be that big of a difference but there is. The downside is that the bass doesn't sound as clean, but the thing is, when your listening to nearly 90dB explosions, can you really tell a difference in tonal quality or is the "pound your chest" volume more important?

I believe I will stick to the Denon convertor until I can or choose to afford a "high end" decoder/preamp, as the sense of spaciousness, and accuracy in imaging, as well as just an overall better sound seems to result from using the analogue outputs rather than letting the HK decode.

My rationale is that with the receiver, there's a preamp, processor, amplifiers, video switching, AM/FM, all that stuff, and the list price isn't that much more than the DVD player itself, which prides itself on it's D/A converter. The most important thing, as usual though, is it just sounds better to me.

I recommend if you have the player with the option of running analogue outputs to give it a try, I've had my setup for quite a while, always thinking "digital has to be better, afterall there's no loss in data."

As a side, when in this 6 channel direct mode, there's no bass, treble, or balance controls, so I guess the HK is more of a true preamp only when in this mode.

Thanks again for your posts!


P.S. As for the HDMI, my receiver is a couple years too old for that stuff, I have my HDMI output going directly to my tv, and WAS running the optical digital output to the receiver for surround sound.