arthurdent-pfm
Member
So I finally bit the bullet and replaced my AV-8 with a Denon AVR that has pre-outs.
I am using the Denon for center and rears and keeping a Cyrus set up for front main, which is a Cyrus 8+PSX-R. Having freed up some cyrus power amps my front main now gets a bi-amp upgrade too although I don’t have the extra cables yet to test it.
One issue I immediately found is that you lose all the MC-BUS integration, which was great for AV. Front main volume requires manual adjustments, etc. and you run the risk of forgetting you did this and playing some stereo audio at high volume when you switch source.
That is, until you attach a logic analyser to the MC-BUS, reverse engineer how the AV-8 works, and make a fake AV-8 using a tiny programmable IC (usb powered) and the 12V screen trigger on the denon.
Works perfectly; when I turn on the Denon the Cyrus 8 drops into AV mode and pre-sets the volume as before. When I turn it off, the Cyrus goes off. As before when I switch source on the Cyrus I am protected from the high volume setting as it drops straight to normal. Also managed to preserve the MC-BUS “loop”.
Thought I would post this somewhere in case others are interested in such a device. Cyrus Unoffical seems to be gone ??
I am using the Denon for center and rears and keeping a Cyrus set up for front main, which is a Cyrus 8+PSX-R. Having freed up some cyrus power amps my front main now gets a bi-amp upgrade too although I don’t have the extra cables yet to test it.
One issue I immediately found is that you lose all the MC-BUS integration, which was great for AV. Front main volume requires manual adjustments, etc. and you run the risk of forgetting you did this and playing some stereo audio at high volume when you switch source.
That is, until you attach a logic analyser to the MC-BUS, reverse engineer how the AV-8 works, and make a fake AV-8 using a tiny programmable IC (usb powered) and the 12V screen trigger on the denon.
Works perfectly; when I turn on the Denon the Cyrus 8 drops into AV mode and pre-sets the volume as before. When I turn it off, the Cyrus goes off. As before when I switch source on the Cyrus I am protected from the high volume setting as it drops straight to normal. Also managed to preserve the MC-BUS “loop”.
Thought I would post this somewhere in case others are interested in such a device. Cyrus Unoffical seems to be gone ??
