El Scorcho

1.) Can someone give me a very detailed explanation why I should use a coax cable for my digital out from my DVD player into my receiver instead of just a normal RCA cable? My knowledge of coax cables indicates to me that a coax cable is just a transmission line wrapped with a grounded braided shield wire to protect against interference on the transmission line. So an RCA should sound just like a coax cable, provided I'm not running a radio station next to my receiver, no?

2.) Got a new DVD player yesterday (Pioneer DV-626D) and there's a plethora of options to choose from for audio! For dolby digital out, it allows me to choose between DD or DD->PCM. For 96 kHz PCM Out, it allows me to choose between 96 kHz -> 48kHz or simply 96 kHz. Finally, for MPEG out, it lets me choose between MPEG or MPEG -> PCM.

Can someone explain all of this to me? My audio connections are simply an RCA cable from the digital out on my DVD player to the PCM/DD/DTS Digital In of my receiver (Pioneer VSX-D409). Which settings are optimal for my use?

3.) I have a POS (piece of sh**) subwoofer that came with the Cambridge Soundworks desktop theater thing that I bought a while ago. It's the only subwoofer I have right now, so I'd like to use it until I save up the cash to get a new sub. Anyway my question is that there's a Subwoofer Preout jack in my receiver. So I figure I just plug my subwoofer into that jack and I'll feel some bass. Nothing. Even the speaker tests yield no results. All my other speakers work just fine in DD and DTS audio output. Would someone care to enlighten me on how to get this sub to work?

Thanks in advance for the help.

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Snoochie boochies? Nobody f***ing talks like that -- that is f***ing babytalk!

Blade

1. Detailed explanation of why you can use RCA cables: The digital signal is a series of 0s and 1s. As long as the information is getting there, you're fine. There's some error correction in the decoder too. Your RCA cable should work just fine. But my toslink optical cable sounds a lot cooler than your RCA cables.

2. Set your audio out to DD. If you can still select a PCM setting, then go for 96. It will provide for a better quality audio signal. Not sure about Mpeg.

3. Can't help you with the hook up, but if it is hooked up properly, try checking your receiver settings. You should have a subwoofer setting. Mine has 3 settings, On (only sends the LFE channel to the sub) Full (sends the lowend signals to both my mains and my sub) and Off. Try seeing if you have a setting similar to my receiver's "full" setting and set it to that.

Hope some of that helps.

-David

El Scorcho

Blade -

1. Being an EE, I know that a signal is the same whether it's sent down a piece of coat hanger, coax cable, or RCA cable. But my question (which you ignored ) is why do people swear by the coax cable? I can see people swearing by the optical cables because light transmission is not only faster, but also has higher data integrity than any metal wire ever could.

DVD_O_Rama

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Drink 'Til She's Cute:
1.) Can someone give me a very detailed explanation why I should use a coax cable for my digital out from my DVD player into my receiver instead of just a normal RCA cable? My knowledge of coax cables indicates to me that a coax cable is just a transmission line wrapped with a grounded braided shield wire to protect against interference on the transmission line. So an RCA should sound just like a coax cable, provided I'm not running a radio station next to my receiver, no?

2.) Got a new DVD player yesterday (Pioneer DV-626D) and there's a plethora of options to choose from for audio! For dolby digital out, it allows me to choose between DD or DD->PCM. For 96 kHz PCM Out, it allows me to choose between 96 kHz -> 48kHz or simply 96 kHz. Finally, for MPEG out, it lets me choose between MPEG or MPEG -> PCM.

Can someone explain all of this to me? My audio connections are simply an RCA cable from the digital out on my DVD player to the PCM/DD/DTS Digital In of my receiver (Pioneer VSX-D409). Which settings are optimal for my use?

3.) I have a POS (piece of sh**) subwoofer that came with the Cambridge Soundworks desktop theater thing that I bought a while ago. It's the only subwoofer I have right now, so I'd like to use it until I save up the cash to get a new sub. Anyway my question is that there's a Subwoofer Preout jack in my receiver. So I figure I just plug my subwoofer into that jack and I'll feel some bass. Nothing. Even the speaker tests yield no results. All my other speakers work just fine in DD and DTS audio output. Would someone care to enlighten me on how to get this sub to work?

Thanks in advance for the help.

<HR>

1) Not really a detailed explanation, but coax is probably more preferred over toslink because of the cost difference between the two (coax is cheaper) and the fact that coax is a lot more durable. Bending a toslink cable by accident or otherwise might damage the cable and render it unusable. As far as why you should use a cabled labeled as 'digital coax' over regular RCA cables; well that's simply a matter of taste. I mean you could wire your entire system with RCA cables and zip cord, but the question is...how cool is friggin' zip cord and RCA cables? Seriously though, we all know the wars that have erupted over cables and costs, so we won't go there.

2) To the best of my knowledge, you should select 48kHz, unless you are playing back a source that is mastered at 96kHz, or you'll get no benefit out of it. I may be way off on that, as I have no on-hand experience with that, but read it somewhere. (Those with more knowledge on the subject, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

3) Is it a powered or passive sub? If it's a powered sub, make sure your settings on your receiver have the subwoofer 'on'.


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