[Richard in Idaho]

Do any of you Van Alstine owner user your units for the sound output of video sources in two channel.
Would like to know how this is done since there are no video inputs.

[modular747]

Any high level inputs - i.e. "Spare, Special, DVD, etc. can be used, with RCA.  There's nothing special about stereo "video" analogue audio.

[PSB Guy]

My Insight + Control Amp does double duty as a two channel home theatre amp. Works like a charm, sounds great. Just connect the analog audio outs from the TV to any of the high level inputs and you're done. FWIW, I also route the analog audio from my DVD player through the amp, I don't need surround sound in my small living room. Again, sounds great.

Cornelis

[PSB Guy]

Hey Richard, I just read the question you posted in the Home Theatre forum where you said your TV only has optical digital audio outputs. If that truly is the case, you're going to have to route the digital audio through a DAC and then the analog audio out to your amp.

Cornelis

[srb]

Hey Richard, I just read the question you posted in the Home Theatre forum where you said your TV only has optical digital audio outputs. If that truly is the case, you're going to have to route the digital audio through a DAC and then the analog audio out to your amp.

If you are going to route the TVs digital audio through a 2 channel stereo DAC (and not a Dolby Digital DAC), make sure your TV is able to be set to output a 2 channel stereo S/PDIF signal through a menu setting.
 
Not all TVs have that option, and several Panasonics I have looked at (including my own) do not have the ability to do that.  Hopefully your LG does.
 
Steve

[avahifi]

Actually you can do better than coming out the analog stereo outputs on your TV into one of our preamps or our control amp.  Come out the analog stereo output on your satellite box or cable box instead.  This will bypss the audio electronics in your TV set completely and provide best possible TV sound.  Connect the analog stereo outputs from your Blue Ray player to our preamp or control amp too. Connect the video to your TV set only.  Even better, connect the S/PDIF digital out of your Blue Ray player into one of our DACs and then on to our preamp.  You won't even like your surround sound musicality then.  If you do this you will need our remote control option to keep the sound levels between blasting loud and whispers in control.

Frank

[pansixt]

I agree with Frank.

I ran a BJ Coax from Digital Out on the Cable box to my Vision DAC.
Since I have the Vision EC DAC, I also ran a Coax from the SB Touch and Optical from my OPPO CDP as a transport as well as optical from my BDP to the DAC.

It all sounds marvelous in 2 channel.

James

[Brett Buck]

Even better, connect the S/PDIF digital out of your Blue Ray player into one of our DACs and then on to our preamp.

   That's what I am doing and it works well. SPDIF out of the TV, to an Inday switcher, to the preamp. The only downside is that most of the source material is relatively poor. Put on the "Band of Brothers" Blu-ray and it's incredible. You will toss your 1812 overture test records when you heard the German 88mm and even machine gun fire; the dynamics are incredible.

    I have found that local OTR digital TV audio is exceptional - KCSM-TV jazz subchannel sounds exceptionally good. It also must have some pretty darn good equipment at their end, too. It may be the best source I have.

     Brett

[Richard in Idaho]

Connect the analog stereo outputs from your Blue Ray player to our preamp or control amp too. Connect the video to your TV set only.
Frank

This would be easy to do and you could always add a DAC later. But, I have read that the sync between the audio and video can be a problem.
Is this really much of a problem?
What I want is great music from my new Songbirds and TV sound that is better than whats built in to the TV.

[Brett Buck]

This would be easy to do and you could always add a DAC later. But, I have read that the sync between the audio and video can be a problem.
Is this really much of a problem?

   I haven't found that to be the case, and I watch/listen in that mode4  8 12 many hours a day. Or at least, it's not any worse than doing it any other way. One thing that is a little off about most if not all digital TV is that the sync is not that great even in the best of conditions, and even if you just use a plain old TV with nothing attached. And it seems to vary from program to program and the way it's acquired. The worst are old TV shows with sound processing applied. Sometimes there is some sort of processing that is intended to remove the hiss and other noise reduction, and when it's not done properly, you can hear it both "breathing" as the source level changes, and causing lag that gets it out of sync.

    You can hear the same thing in many low-data-rate digital sources. HD Radio, for instance apparently does something similar because you can hear the background noise level jumping around based on the signal levels. Of course there's no sync issue in that case.

    But I don't notice any additional lag in the case of the external DAC, at least not in the Insight+.

     Brett