Connections from McIntosh MX119 to Oppo BDP-95

[JackK]

Originally Posted by thughes

Use the main HDMI video out on the Oppo into your TV. Don't use the components unless you have no other choice. Eventually, copy protection will downgrade the quality of the video to a much lower resolution.

The MX119 doesn't support HDMI so I'm kind of stuck with component unless I do not use the video switching of the MX119 and go direct to the tv from the Oppo. I will try the HDMI cable this weekend just to see the difference.

[JJinID]

Originally Posted by JackK

The MX119 doesn't support HDMI so I'm kind of stuck with component unless I do not use the video switching of the MX119 and go direct to the tv from the Oppo. I will try the HDMI cable this weekend just to see the difference.

I highly recommend using HDMI 1 out of the BDP-95 as well - I only use my MX119 for audio switching now and use a separate HDMI 4x2 switch for video switching. It makes a significant difference!

I agree with others who state to use the multichannel RCA analog outs from the Oppo to the multichannel inputs on the MX119 and also use the dedicated 2-channel outputs from the Oppo as there is an improvement in the 2-channel sound quality that way also

[JackK]

Originally Posted by JJinID

I only use my MX119 for audio switching now and use a separate HDMI 4x2 switch for video switching. It makes a significant difference!

What HDMI switch do you use? I still may have an issue if I go this route because my MS750 doesn't support HDMI either.

I did connect using the multichannel analog outputs on the Oppo.

Thanks,
Jack

[JJinID]

Hi Jack - I am currently using a very inexpensive 4 input x 2 independent output zone switch from Monoprice. I bought this initially just to try it out about 2 years ago but it works great and I haven't found a need to upgrade it to something more costly. You can still use your MX119 for component video if needed for your MS750 or other analog video devices. If you only have one HDMI unit (your Oppo BDP-95) I would suggest just running that directly to your display and change inputs on your TV from HDMI input to component input as needed. Hope that helps...

[PMCH]

I have a similar setup with the Oppo 95 going into a MX136. I have the HDMI 1 port going directly into my Kuro plasma, picture is great. I have the 6 audio unbalanced outputs going into the MX136 and the 2 stereo balanced outputs going into the C2300 DVD input ( the MCD500 goes into the CD input). I was actually suprised that the Oppo 95 doesn't sound nearly as good as the MCD500 in stereo. I will have to play with the setup more. My base management for my JLf112 seems to be off also in movie and SACD surround. Not sure if it should be controled more with the Oppo or the MX136. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

[JackK]

I took a look at the back of the Pioneer HD1130 box at lunch today. There are two HDMI inputs available. So my plan is to leave the component video for the MS750 and move the Motorola cable box and Oppo BDP-95 to the HDMI connections. I'll just reprogram my MX850 remote to switch the inputs on the TV.

Thanks for the help.

[thughes]

Yes, by all means use the HDMI. I use the McIntosh C45 for the audio and run direct HDMI to my Panasonic Plasma.

My bass management for my JLf112 seems to be off also in movie and SACD surround

I have had to play with this a great deal. I found that using the test signals on the Oppo gave me different settings than using the signals on the Spears and Munsil set up disk. I gave up on the Oppo settings and used S&P. That won't help with SACD. I had to do a lot of going back and forth in the menus to end up at a happy place.

[W9TR]

I've had my Oppo BDP-95 for about two months now. I am running the single ended analog outs from the BDP-95 into the direct inputs of the MX-135. HDMI 1 goes directly from the Oppo main output to the JVC X-7 HDMI input. No issues with HDMI handshaking.

I am very impressed with the Oppo's internal decoding capabilities and overall tonality. It is not quite up to the standards of my MCD-500 for stereo audio, but it is not far off, either.

I too had a hell of a time setting up the audio levels, especially the main/sub and LFE levels. I like it that the Oppo crossover goes down to 40 Hz. The lowest my MX-135 will go is 60Hz, and that's a little to high for my setup. Acceptable, but not optimum.

The functionality of the Oppo for analog audio setup is bad beyond all belief - the internal signal generator is USELESS!!

You have to use a good audio setup DVD like Avia. It is the only way to setup the correct subwoofer levels. Even then, Oppo makes it way harder than it should be with a clunky, stupid menu strucutre.

I also had a hard time matching levels between internally decoded audio and S/P DIF into the MX-135. Ultimately the analog levels out of the Oppo were very low - I had to offset all the levels out of the oppo up by 8 dB and then adjust the levels in the MX-135 down 2-3 dB to get everything to match up.

It appears that the D/A converters in the Oppo are slightly better than the intrnal ones in the McIntosh. That's understandable given the age of the MX-135.

Overall, I'm loving the sound and video quality of this combination. The video processing on standard DVD's is really outstanding -much better than my old reference HTPC running all kinds of fancy video processing algorithms.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by JackK

What HDMI switch do you use? I still may have an issue if I go this route because my MS750 doesn't support HDMI either.

I did connect using the multichannel analog outputs on the Oppo.

Thanks,
Jack

FWIW, I scale my component video from my MS750 thru a relatively inexpensive Lumagen HDQ to 1080p.

The MS GUI never looked so good!

[JJinID]

I am using the AIX Blu-Ray audio calibration disc to set my speaker levels for both my MX119 and my Oppo. The AIX disc came with my BDP-83 but it is not included with the 95. I do have an extra one - PM me if you would like to borrow it and I would be willing to make arranagements to loan it out. I have found that this disc is accurate and works much better than my Video Essentials, Avia, and other calibration discs that I have used.

To calibrate my speaker and sub levels successfully, what I have done is to first use the coaxial digital out of the Oppo into the MX119 set on Cinema 1. I use the DD 5.1 track on the AIX disc to measure the speaker and sub levels for digital in on the MX119. Once I have made the appropriate adjustments to the levels in the MX119, I then measure using the multichannel analog inputs with the MX119 set on External. Note that the LFE sub level will be ~ 15 db lower than the other channels on the analog connections per DD spec requirements. I increase the Sub output by +10 on my MX119 sub trim and do the rest in the Oppo speaker levels in the setup to compensate for this and make it correct. I have found that for my setup the difference between the digital input and analog input levels for all speakers is very close once I make the level adjustment for the sub (+/- .5 db) if I do the setup in this order, and you can then make those small corrections in the Oppo speaker level setup as needed.

Hope this information is helpful for those working to calibrate the speaker levels of their Oppo players. This should work for MX119/120 and 135/136 processors.