Jingles
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My first system
bierfeldt
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You could easily alter your source to output a two channel signal. Any DVD/Blu-Ray player or Universal Disc Player has setting to be able to change from a multi-channel signal to a two channel signal. That would be what I would do.

Jingles
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I just realised I could do it from the HTPC, just discovered two ways to downmix the audio to 2ch. Takes about 30 seconds to set it up.

I think I just convinced myself to get an integrated amp.

commsysman
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Jingles wrote:

I just realised I could do it from the HTPC, just discovered two ways to downmix the audio to 2ch. Takes about 30 seconds to set it up.

I think I just convinced myself to get an integrated amp.

Check out the Music Hall A15.3 amplifier; Audio Advisor has it.

caphill
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Jingles, I would get a stereo integrated amp with digital inputs and a subwoofer output if you have a sub. Integrated amps that have digital inputs have internal DAC (Digital Analog Converter) for you to use.
If you have a universal disc (bluray) player just simply connect your player to the integrated amp via digital connection spdif (coaxial digital audio cable or optical digital Toslink). You don't even have to do anything on your universal bluray disc player. Let say when you're watching bluray or dvd movies that are formatted in multi-channels, the multi-channel sources will automatically be downmixed to stereo when it reaches your amp.

Or alternatively, if you have a universal bluray disc player that has good quality sounding DAC such as the Oppo bdp-105 player then you can use the dedicated stereo analog audio output of the Oppo bdp 105 player to connect to the integrated amp. In this scenario, you will have to set your player to downmix multi-channel sources to stereo for those multi-channel sources.

Does that make sense to you?

Sloansong
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caphill wrote:

Jingles, I would get a stereo integrated amp with digital inputs and a subwoofer output if you have a sub. Integrated amps that have digital inputs have internal DAC (Digital Analog Converter) for you to use.
If you have a universal disc (bluray) player just simply connect your player to the integrated amp via digital connection spdif (coaxial digital audio cable or optical digital Toslink). You don't even have to do anything on your universal bluray disc player. Let say when you're watching bluray or dvd movies that are formatted in multi-channels, the multi-channel sources will automatically be downmixed to stereo when it reaches your amp.

Or alternatively, if you have a universal bluray disc player that has good quality sounding DAC such as the Oppo bdp-105 player then you can use the dedicated stereo analog audio output of the Oppo bdp 105 player to connect to the integrated amp. In this scenario, you will have to set your player to downmix multi-channel sources to stereo for those multi-channel sources.

Does that make sense to you?

I will add to the list of what Caphill said and also suggest the new Opportunity UDP-203. Half the cost of a 105 and the new 32 bit AKM DAC they are using is pretty darn good. Also depending on how much of a budget you have you could spring for a Parasound Halo Integrated which is the most complete 2.1 Integrated I have ever seen. Good luck with the rabbit hole, we will see you down here as some point :)

caphill
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The Oppo UDP-203 analog audio section isn't optimized for critical stereo listening to music as the 105. The 105 has better power supply than the UDP-203 and the 105 has a dedicated stereo signal path and are differential whereas the UDP-203 & the 103 only have one DAC chip for multi-channels only. The 105 has one DAC chip for multi-channel analog out and another DAC chip for its dedicated stereo analog output, which is differential. And the 105 has separate analog audio boards for stereo and multi-channels.
The UDP-203 & the 103 aren't built the same way as the 105. The UDP-203 has pretty much the same build and DAC architecture as the bdp-103 except the 203 uses a different DAC chip set than the 103.

The upcoming UDP-205 will have similar build and DAC architecture as the 105 but uses different DAC chip set. Their analog audio circuitry were designed very similar.

Yes, the Parasound Halo integrated is an awesome integrated amp. The other alternative integrated amp that is similarly priced would be the Rotel RA-1592. They both are priced at $2500. You can never go wrong with either of them. They both will drive your Sonus Faber speakers with ease and both integrateds are very musical. They both will sound different but are comparable performance wise. Both the Rotel and the Parasound Halo have generous digital and analog inputs. Give them both a listen with your speakers and only you can decide which you like better sonically.

Allen Fant
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Jingles,

you are off to a nice start. Later on, switch out your SVS sub for a REL model.

David Harper
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I've got a Marantz universal disc player and the analog stereo outputs on it output a stereo signal regardless of what the disc is, it automatically coverts anything that's playing to analog stereo, you don't have to set anything. I've also got it connected to a Denon AVR via HDMI, and when switching back and forth between analog stereo and HDMI the sound is identical.

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