Originally posted by: Alptraum
Thats a goofy set up. Don't take that the wrong way, I consider my main HT set up goofy as well and quite like it. What are the details? You just say JVC amps. What are you using for decoding? The PC? Stand alone processor? Processor/pre-amp? Are they recievers? And why so many speakers? Just curious.
Well? to make a long story short, I discovered the Audigy 2 doesn?t encode EAX sound etc. and send it out digitally, only out the analog ports. It can do a pass through for DVDs etc. where the sound card doesn?t decode anything, but that does no good in EAX games such as UT2003. It only sends stereo PCM out the digital ports in a game like that. So, I had a JVC RX-778V receiver. It was Dolby Digital, but no analog 5.1 inputs, and no component video switching, and only 1 S-Video input. I upgraded to a RX-8020V with Dobly ProLogic II, Dolby Digital EX & DTS-ES (both 7.1), component video switching, s-video inputs for nearly every input, and 5.1 analog inputs. The new amp came with new speakers and a larger subwoofer. So now I have an 8? 60w sub, and a 10? 100w sub. The difference between them is quite impressive. Since the extended surround (the sides of the 7.1) are not powered by this amp, and I had all these speakers and two amps, I decided, why not?! ;-) Soooo? 4 front speakers are powered by the A & B mains of the 8020 amp, as are the single center and two rears. All are 100w apiece. The larger sub is self powered and connected to the 8020. The extended surround pre-out goes into the older 778 amp, and 4 side speakers are connected to the A & B main outputs of that amp (also 100w apiece). I?m not running the 2nd amp in surround mode at all, just stereo. I hooked up the 2nd sub to the 778 amp for more bass for the extended surrounds. It works out about perfect as it is not as powerful a sub anyway. I suppose I could get REALLY creative and find a way to use the center and surround outputs of the 2nd amp, but I think it would ruin the beautiful sound field I currently have.
So, in a nutshell, in games and what not, the Audigy 2 decodes the EAX sound into 5.1, ships it to the main amp via analog lines, the main amp ?upscales? it to 7.1, and the sides are powered by the extra amp and sub. Honestly, you can?t hear much of a difference between 5.1 or 7.1 as far as the sound field goes from the Audigy 2?s decoder, but it does turn on more speakers (the sides) making the surround much more effective and louder. When watching a DTS-ES DVD from the dedicated DVD player, or from the Audigy 2 when using the pass through and digital connectors, there is a huge difference between 5.1 and 7.1, because the amp is then doing the decoding in true 7.1. I suppose EAX would really kick if I had an Audigy 2 ZS and an amp capable of 7.1 analog inputs. Which I could technically do if I fed 5.1 to the main amp and the sides to the 2nd amp on another input, such as CD. I may end up doing that. I need a real HDTV (or a projector) first though! ;-)
