Marantz AV7705 AV Receiver: HDMI out to external DAC

You are definitely doing this the hard way. Per page 41, use the bypass mode with any of the analog inputs.

In the Marantz, tell it to send your LFE signal to the L and R outputs OR use both of the sub's inputs so it can receive the LFE from the Marantz via one channel and the integrated via the other. This would let you hook up the sub to both the integrated and HT receiver.

Even if you could find something that had digital outputs for just 2 channels of the HT I know of no situation where the digital input also bypasses the volume control.

@blisshifi can obviously tell you more, but it’s unlikely the HDMI output from a mass market AVP is compatible with the HDMI input on the 2500 as the Marantz probably only outputs Dolby/DTS signals the 2500 likely won’t process and is why you’re not hearing anything.  That’s my guess anyway.

Bad idea tha marantzwontnoutput  a clean digital signal

If youvare looking to get better music get an integrated amplifier to poweryourmaind c then  mains then by adding a dac

sorry for the bad post from phone not computer

Bad idea the  Marantz wont output  a clean digital signal

also many avrs  will digitize an analog signal

If you are looking to get better music get an integrated amplifier to power your mains then  mains then by adding a Dac to the Marantz 

you take the main outs from the Avr into the integrated amplifier best way to gain real music out of an surround sound setup.

Dave and Troy

audio intellect NJ

@audiotroy 

I'm still not sure what you're trying to say: "get an integrated amplifier to power your mains then  mains then by adding a Dac to the Marantz."  Sending the AVR's digital output to the T+A is "adding a DAC to the Marantz," right? Or do I misunderstand?

Let me make sure I'm coming across.  I'll be using ONLY the T+A when playing all "serious" stereo content -- vinyl, SACD hirez stereo, streaming digital. No HT electronics would be in the signal path (although hirez SACD stereo would be routed to the T+A DAC via HDMI from the Oppo). 

The T+A's embedded DAC/streamer is a class above the Oppo & Marantz DACs, as you'd expect from a $19,000 product designed by a company like T+A.  So my goal was to ALWAYS use the T+A to drive the front channels & sub, regardless of source.  The Marantz AVR would enter the picture only when decoding multichannel content, sending analog line-level output to the C & rear external power amps and routing a digital front/sub signal to the T+A.

The problem arises when using the T+A to drive the front channels & sub of multichannel content -- such as 5.1 Netflix streamed by the Marantz AVR or multichannel SACD content extracted by the Oppo. It looks now like there's no way to use the T+A's great little DAC & preamp in such cases.

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The Marantz and Oppo are not sending DD-encoded signals.

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@erik_squires  Yes, routing the analog output of the Marantz to the T+A would enable HT integration.  But that defeats the purpose of inserting the integrated into the home-theater topology, taking advantage of the T+A's power amp, but only after routing the signal through the AVR's DAC and preamp.  An analog connection has been my Plan B all along, and I verified that it works, but my OP was posted in hope of figuring a way around that.

Your last sentence I think hits the nail on the head.  In general, digital connections cannot be configured as HT bypasses?  That's a surprise, but if you're sure of that, I'm SOL.  Too bad nobody mentioned that in the lengthy threads I posted here over the last few months describing what I was trying to do.  Kinda late now to be rethinking everything, but here we are.

I think the most likely outcome will be that multichannel playback will have lesser SQ than T+A-only "critical listening" stereo.  So long as I don't compromise the stereo SQ, I guess I can live with that.

And to be clear, I still love the T+A.  It's an incredible piece of grear in so many ways.  It'll be interesting to read the first reviews in TAS / Stereophile.