First off, I really appreciate the comments and input from everyone. So thank you.

If I feed the C10 into the speakers directly how do I turn the EBA on/off easily? From my limited understanding either the Controller does this dynamically via the SL interface or I have to change the speakers config manually. Without a controller like an 861 the second options sounds doable but not ideal.

I had also thought about an 818v3 into the speakers as an upscale version of the above scenario but if I left my G68 going to one input of the speaker and the 818 going to the other I also don't know how I manage the EBA on/off? I am happy with the sound I currently have for movies and would love the ultimate sound for Music so I had given this configuration some thought but I just don't know if it is workable?

Because I am not clear on how an 8KSE upgrade with EBA by itself could work with my current system I was thinking this was my upgrade path (given I have to do it in stages)...

Stage 1 - Upgrade G68 to 861 with ID41 (I would get an improvement for music)
Stage 2 - Upgrade my 8K to SE (big step up for music)
Stage 3 - Upgrade my center to 7k2SE from 5500

EBA is a good step forward but makes for an expensive ripple effect in multi channel systems. Is this why some have gone back to stereo?

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