Hi guys!
I was not around for several years.
I see modding continues till this day. Great.
Anyways, I found a way how to deal with crossover frequency, and some other things...but it would be an expensive and time consuming path to take.
I still have some Z-5500 control pods at home which I bought in 2013, some are working and will go on ebay and some need repairing.
As I pulled those pods from the box to test them, I remembered this site and people who mod Z-5500, and I also remembered why Z-5500 were bad and why I gave up on modding them.
As several years passed, I googled if someone actually did hack the control pod. Found nothing new.
Searching further for possible solutions brought me to one IC which could change this, STA310. Unlike CS494003 which needs custom programming, STA310 has Dolby Digital and DTS decoding already in it, you just need to control it via I2C. STA310 is an obsolete part and it's hard to get your hands on it, but it could be done. I'm still waiting for some quotes so I may buy few pieces.
Since STA310 is not quite well documented, it's datasheet is in preliminary state, I googled if someone actually did use it for decoding, and I found 2 implementations on
http://ep.com.pl/. Just search for DD or DTS decoder and you'll find them.
So basically, one could:
- use CS42526 for inputs (adding up to 8 optical/coaxial inputs, and one analog input)
- use STA310 for DD/DTS decoder (it has a master volume control, bass management(YAAAY!), down-mix to 2 channels...)
- use PCM1680 as DAC from STA310
- use NJW1150 for additional per channel volume control (it also has bass/treble controls for 2 channels which could be used)
...and remake the entire control pod to suit your needs.
Addition to that, one could add USB input and make a control pod on steroids.
It would take several months to complete, it's not an easy task, but the end reward would be very satisfactory, at least for those who still have Z-5500 systems.
I might take this endeavor if I source some STA310, but do note that DD and DTS are kind of old formats, there are new like DD Plus and DTS-HD to name the few, so this would be simply for educational purposes, it has no value in long term since DD and DTS are obsolete.
While searching for STA310, another option which came to mind is using ffmpeg(has DD Plus) in raspberry pi(or something similar) but that's whole another issue.
Anyways, if this info helps someone in any way, great.
Good luck with modding.