Genelec Home Theater on Digital

[cata02]

Hi all,

I got a pair of Genelec 8330 + the 7350 sub and I am driving them on digital from TV's optical in stereo. Simple working setup with no headaches.
Just love the sound, the clarity, separation, the easy calibration. Just perfect for my needs.

I love the sound so much that i'd like to go home theater and enjoy movies more.

But i am faced with not finding how to get the 5.1 sound from the tv to a 4.1/5.1 Genelec setup (I am considering not using a central speaker just due to the looks).
I'd like to avoid if possible using a preamp (althought it would improve the genelec volume control experience) as that opens up a big can of worms: quality of the DACs, etc....

What are my options? What am i missing?

Thanks!

 

[DVDdoug]

I think you're going to need an AVR (or other surround processor) to decode Dolby/DTS. I'm assuming the Genelecs only work with PCM and can't decode.

...Most stand-alone DACs can't decompress/decode these formats, and you may end-up wanting/needing HDMI.

If you get an AVR you'll need one with line-outputs for the active speakers (unless you want to "adapt" the speaker outputs).

 

[Littletycoon]

Also depends on the capabilities of optical in your tv. Optical supports 5.1, but if you tv optical implementation is only stereo you have to go the hdmi route. I assume your tv is not that old that it also still has analog out.

 

[Pe8er]

AVR is an option, since Genelecs can't decode surround. Here's a good primer:

 

[chelgrian]

Hi all,

I got a pair of Genelec 8330 + the 7350 sub and I am driving them on digital from TV's optical in stereo. Simple working setup with no headaches.
Just love the sound, the clarity, separation, the easy calibration. Just perfect for my needs.

I love the sound so much that i'd like to go home theater and enjoy movies more.

But i am faced with not finding how to get the 5.1 sound from the tv to a 4.1/5.1 Genelec setup (I am considering not using a central speaker just due to the looks).
I'd like to avoid if possible using a preamp (althought it would improve the genelec volume control experience) as that opens up a big can of worms: quality of the DACs, etc....

What are my options? What am i missing?

Thanks!

The cheapest way to do this completely digitally is:

Arvus 16 channel Dolby ATMOS HDMI decoder to Dante, Ravenna, AES/EBU and Analog

H2-4D is the world's first 16 channel Dolby ATMOS HDMI decoder to Dante, Ravenna, AES/EBU and Balanced Analog. Now Selling

www.arvus.com

Which will take eARC over HDMI from your TV and decode the compressed in to AES.

Then in order to get base management right with GLM you need

9301B AES/EBU Multichannel Interface - Genelec.com

The 9301B multichannel interface is a handy digital I/O expansion that offers a simple and robust way to connect and integrate 7300 Series Smart Active Subwoofers as part of any Genelec immersive audio system.

www.genelec.com

Neither of these units are particularly cheap.

 

[cata02]

Hdmi was the way i was thinking as even the old hdmi arc supports dolby 5.1.

 

[cata02]

The cheapest way to do this completely digitally is:

Arvus 16 channel Dolby ATMOS HDMI decoder to Dante, Ravenna, AES/EBU and Analog

H2-4D is the world's first 16 channel Dolby ATMOS HDMI decoder to Dante, Ravenna, AES/EBU and Balanced Analog. Now Selling

www.arvus.com

Which will take eARC over HDMI from your TV and decode the compressed in to AES.

Then in order to get base management right with GLM you need

9301B AES/EBU Multichannel Interface - Genelec.com

The 9301B multichannel interface is a handy digital I/O expansion that offers a simple and robust way to connect and integrate 7300 Series Smart Active Subwoofers as part of any Genelec immersive audio system.

www.genelec.com

Neither of these units are particularly cheap.

Why in specific do you need the 9301b for bass management if u use the glm kit?

Seems like one approach for this simple setup is an old hdmi arc enabled second hand pre or receiver. Rabbit hole of research which pre is worth it. I really do not want to sacrifice the clarity and precision these genelecs have spoiled me with.

 

[chelgrian]

Why in specific do you need the 9301b for bass management if u use the glm kit?

Seems like one approach for this simple setup is an old hdmi arc enabled second hand pre or receiver. Rabbit hole of research which pre is worth it. I really do not want to sacrifice the clarity and precision these genelecs have spoiled me with.

Because for GLM bass management the SAM subs take 2 digital inputs over AES one is the LFE and the other needs to be a sum of all the other channels in the system. This is all the 9301b does, produce that sum.

 

[Littletycoon]

Why in specific do you need the 9301b for bass management if u use the glm kit?

Seems like one approach for this simple setup is an old hdmi arc enabled second hand pre or receiver. Rabbit hole of research which pre is worth it. I really do not want to sacrifice the clarity and precision these genelecs have spoiled me with.

If you want to remain digital until the speakers forget the old hdmi arc enabled pre of receiver, they don't exist in the cheap variants. Affordable old or new avr's or pre's are all analog out, not digital out.

 

[cata02]

If you want to remain digital until the speakers forget the old hdmi arc enabled pre of receiver, they don't exist in the cheap variants. Affordable old or new avr's or pre's are all analog out, not digital out.

Yeah i know.

Want digital path, but i am not seeing realistic options. It's weird for me to wrap my head around this. No dac, no amp, and still it's way more expensive than a full avr.

Thus, i have to consider the analog path, but tbh if i also don't find a reasonable solution that preserves all the things i like ab the genelecs, i am giving up.

 

[bodhi]

Yeah i know.

Want digital path, but i am not seeing realistic options. It's weird for me to wrap my head around this. No dac, no amp, and still it's way more expensive than a full avr.

Thus, i have to consider the analog path, but tbh if i also don't find a reasonable solution that preserves all the things i like ab the genelecs, i am giving up.

What exactly are you missing if you just connect the speakers to AVR's preouts and use something like Audyssey for room correction and bass management?

 

[chelgrian]

What exactly are you missing if you just connect the speakers to AVR's preouts and use something like Audyssey for room correction and bass management?

Doing this it's pointless to spend the money on the Genelec SAM monitors in the first place as you are not going to be using GLM.

There is also a DA conversion to get out of the AVR, a AD conversion to go in to the Genelec and then a DA conversion internally to the Genelec. While practically this number of conversions won't make much difference it feels untidy.

The problem is avoiding it requires spending many thousands.

 

[chelgrian]

Yeah i know.

Want digital path, but i am not seeing realistic options. It's weird for me to wrap my head around this. No dac, no amp, and still it's way more expensive than a full avr.

Thus, i have to consider the analog path, but tbh if i also don't find a reasonable solution that preserves all the things i like ab the genelecs, i am giving up.

While it's doing less it's much lower run in terms of units sold than a consumer AVR which is why it's far more expensive.

 

[Pe8er]

You could also hack your AVR to add digital outputs:

Adding post-DSP SPDIF outputs to AVRs

Greetings! I thought it might be fun to share details of a current project, which involves modifying AVRs with post-DSP SPDIF outputs. This effectively turns any AVR into a fully digital audio processor with room correction, subwoofer crossover/time alignment and EQ functionality. The...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[MKR]

How about this …

Immersive Sound Processor - ISP Evo

The ISP Evo is a purely digital evolution of StormAudio immersive sound processors. This is the answer to pure digital installations.

www.stormaudio.com

 

[cata02]

How about this …

Immersive Sound Processor - ISP Evo

The ISP Evo is a purely digital evolution of StormAudio immersive sound processors. This is the answer to pure digital installations.

www.stormaudio.com

It does fitt the use case, but my puny mind cannot comprehend how can removing DAC & amp lead to 18k usd while having them is few hundred bucks....

 

[cata02]

While it's doing less it's much lower run in terms of units sold than a consumer AVR which is why it's far more expensive.

I have some dounts this is the case, bc the processor part is share component across these devices, so it should mostly get the benefts of scale.
My suspicion was that higher cost of digital pre is maybe due to specific licensing which forces such devices to the pro market only.

 

[cata02]

Doing this it's pointless to spend the money on the Genelec SAM monitors in the first place as you are not going to be using GLM.

There is also a DA conversion to get out of the AVR, a AD conversion to go in to the Genelec and then a DA conversion internally to the Genelec. While practically this number of conversions won't make much difference it feels untidy.

The problem is avoiding it requires spending many thousands.

This!

Even though i might end up with using a preamp, due to ... rationality, my intent was to have a clear signal path, as simple as possible from TV to sound, and in addition, I like the Genelec sound as-is, I want to avoid messing it up.

Going to analog before the genelecs opens the big can of worms: what dac am i using? how is channel separation? how is the noise floor? how does it handle dynamics? etc. all questions which usually end up with "just buy this device whic is mega expensive bc ... reasons"; million questions and concerns that do not exist with a full digital path to the Genelecs.

 

[Littletycoon]

I have some dounts this is the case, bc the processor part is share component across these devices, so it should mostly get the benefts of scale.
My suspicion was that higher cost of digital pre is maybe due to specific licensing which forces such devices to the pro market only.

Small volumes and target market (high end residential and marine). You pay for the perceived quality. Prices for Trinnov, Storm & lyngdorf (who can all do digital out optional) are ridiculous. Nothing to do with licensing, their analog out products also cost a small fortune.

 

[bodhi]

Doing this it's pointless to spend the money on the Genelec SAM monitors in the first place as you are not going to be using GLM.

There is also a DA conversion to get out of the AVR, a AD conversion to go in to the Genelec and then a DA conversion internally to the Genelec. While practically this number of conversions won't make much difference it feels untidy.

The problem is avoiding it requires spending many thousands.

But you have already spent the money. You can get the result you want, with the same sound quality, without spending many thousands.

But if you decide to have a problem because "it feels untidy" then that's also fine. It's just not the same problem you are asking for help.