Is this possible?

I am now using one analog stereo pair out from my new Focusrite Pro40 to my 7.1 surround sound home theater system. Is it possible to create separate groups in HW, assign them to eight Optical channels on the Pro 4, transmit the signal via optical cable to the Dennon receiver and have the Dennon route the HW groups to separate speakers in the home theater system?

I have separate RCA analog audio-in jacks for each channel on the receiver. If the optical cable scheme doesn't work directly with the Dennon receiver, can I use a digital to analog converter on the receiver end to translate the signals from the optical cable to separate analog channels? Do you think that it would be an improvement over the current stereo set-up. I plan to eventually get active monitor speakers, but that will be an incremental process over a long time span.

Hello ConnMan:

I admire your creative thinking. The optical-out on your Focusrite Pro40 is designed to connect to an optical-in on an 8 channel ADAT device like this one for example:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ADA8200

Neverthless, your 7.1 home surround system relies on Dolby Digital (or maybe DTS) encoding to know how to distribute which sound to where. Currently HW doesn't support native Dobly encoding.

What you could do is experiment with your receiver settings as they usually have options to simulate different surround sound (multi-speaker) effects from just a stereo signal.

Danny B.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't want to put a lot of time into a project that was doomed from the start. I do use the simulated 7.1 dsp on the Dennon and it is pretty good. Someday I will have an awesome setup and may even learn to play so as not to scare the neighbors!

You can use the second scheme which was to wire directly to the analog channel inputs on the receiver. You are fortunate to have the inputs as 99% of the current receivers do not provide discrete analog inputs for six or eight channels. I've done the same with an older six channel Sony. These inputs allow you to treat the receiver as a simple eight channel amp. What model Dennon is that? Some of the nice older Dennon's pop up on craigslist at reasonable prices.

You can use the second scheme which was to wire directly to the analog channel inputs on the receiver. You are fortunate to have the inputs as 99% of the current receivers do not provide discrete analog inputs for six or eight channels. I've done the same with an older six channel Sony. These inputs allow you to treat the receiver as a simple eight channel amp. What model Dennon is that? Some of the nice older Dennon's pop up on craigslist at reasonable prices.

I'd second that, if the amp has separate (discreet) inputs, then you should be able to connect to them and get the multi-channel results you're looking for. Not many home A/V receivers are set up this way, but if you've got the inputs it should work.

Marc

It is a Denon avr 4306 receiver. The unit is about 10 years old and has been a workhorse. It sold for $2k new but I saw one for $399 on ebay.

Here is a link to the specs
http://www.cnet.com/products/denon-avr-4306/specs/