Question about receiver setup (Sony DA2400ES) (1 Viewer)

[Keldek]

I have a peculiar situation that I'm hoping you all might be able to help out with...

First up, my "parts" list:
Sony DA2400ES receiver
2x Klipsch R-26F floorstanding speakers
Klipsch R-10SW subwoofer
Behringer Xenyx 802 Premium 8-Input 2-Bus Mixer
55" LG 1080p TV with optical out
Google Chromecast Ultra
Random $30 DAC (a better one is en-route)

Ok, so what I am trying to accomplish here is the best of all worlds.

On one hand, I want the best quality music I can get from the above equipment. I'd also like to be able to really enjoy movies (though not really interested in the headache that is surround sound atm, maybe in the future).

On the other hand, my lovely Filipina wife and her Filipina friends............. love karaoke.

So, I'm trying to combine the best of both worlds, and while I think my current configuration will work, I feel like I'm missing out on all that my receiver has to offer.

At present, my current configuration looks something like this:

TV optical out --> into DAC --> out to Behringer mixer --> out to receiver --> out to speakers

The basic (karaoke) usage for this setup is as follows:

YouTube karaoke songs out to the chromecast which is plugged into the tv, which then goes out to the mixer to allow for the addition of mics, then to the receiver, etc.

This setup also requires that all of my hdmi devices (amazon fire tv, cable box, chromecast, ps4, etc) are tethered to my tv, which has only 2 hdmi ports.

What I'm wondering if is possible is as follows:

HDMI input on receiver (eg. chromecast) --> rca preamp out from receiver --> into mixer for mics --> rca out back to receiver ins -- HDMI out to tv.

This would allow me to make use of all the features of the receiver as opposed to

It's probably not possible because the receiver would be receiving an audio signal through HDMI, which I doubt I can send the HDMI audio out via preamp then back in to rca; but I figured I'd try asking before spending several hours pulling everything out to test it out (which is what I'll end up doing anyway).

I'm also open to other suggestions on how I can do my existing setup better, if there's a way that doesn't require dropping money on a "karaoke ready" receiver that'll either cost far more than I can afford to spend, or make everything sound like garbage.

The only other thing I can think of is to get an optical splitter that way I can run one optical line through the mixer, and the other directly to the receiver so I can bypass the mixer when not needed.

Thanks for any and all help/suggestions... and feel free to facepalm and laugh at my dilemma as well

 

[JohnRice]

First, your proposed solution isn't possible, because it requires having two inputs active at the same time. You can use the pre-amp outputs routed to the mixer, but then it would need to go to an external power amp.

I looked at the back of your receiver, and there might be a solution, because it has a tape/MD loop. It will depend on how that loop works. This also brings up why you have a surround receiver, when you don't seem very interested in surround. Because any one of a thousand vintage stereo receivers have tape loops that will work exactly the way you need.

Anyway, the possible solution is to connect the Chromecast to an hdmi on the receiver, then connect the mixer to the MD/Tape out/ins. Now, if that connection works as a tape loop, then you would select the Chromecast input when you want to play from it, and if you want to do karaoke, you would activate the tape loop. I'm calling it a tape loop, but it might not actually be that. A tape loop is designed to do exactly what you want, where it can run the selected input (the Chromecast) through an external processor (the mixer). The question is, does the MD/Tape input work as a tape loop, or is it just another input. If it's a tape loop, you're golden, but if it isn't, and I kind of doubt it is, your best solution is probably to get a stereo receiver that has a tape loop.

EDIT: Doh! You can't use a vintage stereo receiver with the sources you have.

 

[Keldek]

Hi JohnRice, and thanks for your feedback.

The main reason I bought this particular receiver is because I got it used for $90; and even though it's a surround receiver, the audio quality is FAR superior to the Yamaha R-S202 I bought first. I did a lot of research on this receiver and it seems it was so high in demand when it first came out that Sony had inventory issues meeting the demand. Top that with all the reviews I read about it giving it top scores, I figured for the price it was worth a shot.

Edit: It also seems I can actually still make use of most of the "surround" outs consider my speakers can be bi-wired. I'm not sure if there's a great benefit to this, but the option is there in the event I never do a full surround setup.

Yeah, I know I'm trying to skimp on probably the most important part of the setup, but I think i hit a home run with this receiver. I know it's 10 years old, but I don't have a 4k tv, so I'm not really losing much at the moment.

Also, I'll probably end up doing surround at some point, just not right now; so it's good to have the option down the line, even if that's not why I purchased this receiver.


Anywho, back on topic lol... I will try that MD/Tape configuration and see if it works. I hadn't even considered it simply because I don't know much about this kind of stuff heh. I'll be sure to update this thread on whether it works or not. I'm finding conflicting data on this as some spec lists say it has the "tape loop" you're talking about where most others don't mention it at all.

Thanks for the reply, and if this works then I'll owe you a beer or something

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

What I'm wondering if is possible is as follows:

HDMI input on receiver (eg. chromecast) --> rca preamp out from receiver --> into mixer for mics --> rca out back to receiver ins -- HDMI out to tv.

I think we can make this work but not like you’re doing it above.

The TV has two HDMI inputs, so I think you were on the right track with this:

TV optical out --> into DAC --> out to Behringer mixer --> out to receiver --> out to speakers

So - plug the Chromecast into the TV’s HDMI Input 1. From there, as you have connected above: Thus, you get the YouTube picture on the screen, the YouTube audio goes from the TV to the Behringer to mix with the mic, the Behri’s output goes to the receiver. So you get YouTube audio + mic through the speakers.

Plug all the other sources (PS4, Amazon Fire, cablebox) into various inputs on the Sony receiver. The Sony’s HDMI output goes to the TV’s HDMI Input 2.

I think this will get everything working.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[JohnRice]

Wayne’s suggestion is one I didn’t get to. It will work if mine doesn’t. It just will send all audio from the Chromecast through the mixer. Maybe that doesn’t matter.

 

[messzeal]

I have to agree with the suggestion of Keldek. It works everytime! Let me know if you have tried it.

 

[Keldek]

I think we can make this work but not like you’re doing it above.

The TV has two HDMI inputs, so I think you were on the right track with this:



So - plug the Chromecast into the TV’s HDMI Input 1. From there, as you have connected above: Thus, you get the YouTube picture on the screen, the YouTube audio goes from the TV to the Behringer to mix with the mic, the Behri’s output goes to the receiver. So you get YouTube audio + mic through the speakers.

Plug all the other sources (PS4, Amazon Fire, cablebox) into various inputs on the Sony receiver. The Sony’s HDMI output goes to the TV’s HDMI Input 2.

I think this will get everything working.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Hi Wayne, thanks for the input... it dawned on me to do that very thing as I was tearing the whole system down and trying different ways to do everything. Turns out though that the picture quality coming out of the receiver is pretty bad, so I ended up putting everything back to the way I had it lol.

 

[JohnRice]

Hi Wayne, thanks for the input... it dawned on me to do that very thing as I was tearing the whole system down and trying different ways to do everything. Turns out though that the picture quality coming out of the receiver is pretty bad, so I ended up putting everything back to the way I had it lol.

It shouldn't make any difference if the video is going through the receiver. That's what you're supposed to do. The receiver is supposed to be the control center of the system, not the TV. Something must not be set up or connected right. You're using the hdmi inputs on the receiver and hdmi out to the TV? You should make sure there isn't any video processing set up in the receiver.