hi. My first post on this wonderful forum (God knows I'm on plenty others, but this is a first). I have a quick background sketch before I ask the title question.

I have significant $$ invested in both a dedicated 5.1 hirez ITU setup (identical SP Tech Continuum/Revelation setup; large SACD/DVD-A collection) and a 7.1 movie setup (swap out surrounds for side and rear dipole Alon Centris's). I have a dedicated room, etc. But somehow over the past few years the quest for the latest and greatest audio codecs sent me to a very average sounding place (for 5.1 and 7.1; my 2 channel is heaven) for surround music. I used to listen to hirez (SACD/DVD-A) via a very analog signal path (Modwright Denon 3910 universal, tube-modded, etc. talking to any one of a number of processors in my multichannel life...none of which were Meridian though). My room is nicely treated (RealTrap bass traps, diffusors, first reflection zone panels, etc.) and is screaming for the musicality that comes from my 2 channel listening. Currently I only use the Modwright 3910 analog outs for 2 channel hirez; everything multichannel is via HDMI (Oppo 980H and Sammy 1400 blu-Ray, and my Onkyo Pro 885 processor). So, the good news is I get to decode everything known to man (except Ambisonics) including all the latest advanced audio codecs; the bad news is that hirez surround music sounds very very average.

I have two solutions. I need help on the second one!! The first is to have Dan Wright look into simple parts upgrades (opamps, etc.) to mod the Onkyo Pro's analog outs. The 885 fits the bill in all other ways, including having dual balanced/unbalanced outputs so I can run my side surround and dedicated hirez surrounds with the same output (although both the 4 channel side/back amp and the dedicated stereo hirez surround amp are NEVER on at the same time).

The second solution is less straight-forward but after much pondering is likely the best sonically, albeit primarily 5.1 discrete (7.1 via matrixing). It involves having my Oppo modded by Shawn, buying a Panny 55 blu-Ray player and having Shawn mod it too, and then finding a Meridian processor that has a) dual MHR 3xspdif inputs; and b) the ability to have balanced outs to everything and rca outs to at least the surrounds (else I would need to y-out the side/surround outputs I guess, and my current 4 channel movie surround amp is not fitted with XLR's; everything else is). Does this config exist in a G68AXV or XXV, or something else? Is there a version limitation to what I want to do if choosing an 861 via Audiogon, etc.?

BTW, the reason I'm not thinking CLUX with an HDMI switcher in front of it is because of the handshake issues it might have with my DLP projector, a Sammy 710 DVI-based pj. Currently I simply use an HDMI-DVI adapter at the pj and all handshakes are perfect. But the CLUX might throw up on this...dunno.

Sorry for the ramble. If this makes any sense I'd love some opinions or direction. Thanks,
Ted

We're All Bozos On This Bus... F.T.