Working around lack of multichannel IO

[Marconi]

I have a Yamaha AV receiver with a sony multi format DVD player but have to listen to my SQ collection on my Sony 3500 as it has discrete analog inputs for my SQ decoder. I know this is a recognised shortcoming of new AV equipment and it isn’t going to be fixed, but I think I have a fix and wondered if anyone had already tried this before I start building switch boxes. Connect the FL and FR outputs from decoder to a line input. Connect RR and RL to another line input. assign the RR and RL inputs to the zone 2 speaker outputs (if not already being used for Atmos). Configure amp for volume settings. Should work. Any comments? Ian

 

[ClassicalSurroundFan]

I have a Yamaha AV receiver with a sony multi format DVD player but have to listen to my SQ collection on my Sony 3500 as it has discrete analog inputs for my SQ decoder. I know this is a recognised shortcoming of new AV equipment and it isn’t going to be fixed, but I think I have a fix and wondered if anyone had already tried this before I start building switch boxes. Connect the FL and FR outputs from decoder to a line input. Connect RR and RL to another line input. assign the RR and RL inputs to the zone 2 speaker outputs (if not already being used for Atmos). Configure amp for volume settings. Should work. Any comments? Ian

Does “configure amp for volume settings” mean that they can be raised and lowered uniformly without the use of an spl meter?

 

[Marconi]

On my Yamaha the remote lets you directly switch between Zone 1 and Zone 2 so you have a full range of volume and sound settings. Based on manual, I think you can link to operate volume in tandem but until I configure it don’t know but it is a minor inconvenience. My sony has Zone 3 also but Yamaha doesn’t. If it did you can make a loop to go out to decoder on zone 3, then back to two line inputs and assign one to zone 2 speaker outputs. Its a bit of a pain to pull everything out to configure this to test so was hoping someone had already tried it. If it works I will make a speaker switch box to switch rear speakers between normal and zone 2. So long as zone 1 is in 2ch mode it should work in theory.

 

[Marconi]

Do you want to listen to your vintage matrix decoder through your modern AV Amp? This has been an annoyance to me for a long time as modern AV amps don’t provide multi-channel discrete analogue inputs, so I have had to keep my old Sony 3500ES just for this. But I want to listen to my SQ vinyl in the comfort of my lounge on my Yamaha RX1030 with my Monitor Audio Silver speakers – 4 matching floor standers plus Centre for movies.

This is on top of wanting to connect a cassette deck with record options when the amp doesn’t include a tape loop. Yes, I could have bought an amp with these features but at very much higher cost. What modern AV amps often do have is multi-zone support, and I figured out how to use the Zone 2 output to connect the cassette deck. With just one extra zone it isn’t a flexible tape loop, but I can get by. The bigger issue is how to connect a 4-channel decoder with no multi-channel discrete inputs, but I decided there had to be a way to use the Zone feature.

I rigged up a proof of concept and it didn’t work – at first. The Yamaha manual was little help but with perseverance and empirical testing I got there. My Rega turntable with MC cartridge was connected to a Project Phono Amp which in turn connects to the input of my Involve Audio Development Kit SQ Decoder. RCA connectors on the decoder all removed and direct wired due to being temperamental. Front outputs from decoder connect to Audio 1 on the Yamaha. Rear outputs connect to Audio 3 but could be any suitable. Rear speakers moved to SP1 (Zone 2) outputs. In amp “on screen menu”, Power Amp Assign set to 7.1 + 1 Zone. It works.

The amp allows you to programme the start-up state of Zone 2 so that can be manually matched to settings from the main mode. The settings can be stored in Scenes so not necessary to do too much everytime. So POC worked, now I need to make a switch box with the following features.

SQ Decoder with power switch
Rear speaker sockets
Selector switch for speakers as Normal or SQ
Direct cabling to Banana Plugs connected to Surround and SPI speaker terminals
Bypass for Stereo so Turntable can be directly connected to amp

If anyone is interested I can show more. This should be achievable with most modern AV amps with a Zone 2 feature. I wanted to do it without opening up the Yamaha.