Sharing a pair of speakers and a subwoofer between a stereo and a multichannel system

[Chrispy]

AVR's really suck. I don't know why they are all so unreliable, it's as if they are built as cheaply as possible and designed to fail. People here like to recommend AVR's as a DSP solution. Maybe their luck has been better than mine. As far as i'm concerned, they are expensive, unreliable, and go obsolete quickly. I would never spend a lot of money on an AVR. I prefer a more modular solution - that way, if something breaks, only that module needs to be replaced.

I've had a good experience in general with avrs but there's not a lot of choice otherwise for multich audio and video. I have avrs ranging in age from 18 years old (a Denon 3808) to a few years old (Denon 4700). I did have a Pioneer fail, after warranty, and most likely due poor hdmi heat management and I may have stuffed that into a too-small space to help.

You can get a dedicated pre-pro, which traditionally has performed about same as avrs in general, but at significantly higher cost (dualazmak's solution aside). An avr with pre-outs works fine if you want it to act as a pre-pro if you want something more powerful in terms of an amp section, depending on your situation/speakers. An avr can work quite well, but may not be for everyone's tastes.

YMMV.

 

[Chrispy]

I forgot to mention that even after fixing all the loose connections, the Onkyo was still playing up. I can't remember exactly what the symptoms were, but I wasn't comfortable running my Salon 2s off a potentially failed amp, so I sent it in for service.

What was acting up in the Onkyo? I note that model was from the period of time Onkyo had board issues and they had provided extended warranty for a while for. Did yours get repaired earlier under that program? I did have an Onkyo affected by that, and fixed under the extended warranty, and has been fine since.

 

[john61ct]

I have no interest in decoding proprietary surround formats, nor any expensive closed-algorithm hardware DSP boxen

But upmixing to get Lotsa channels from stereo PCM? maybe...

Starting with Schiit SYN, if nothing else as stand in for something better later.

I like its effects for films, and also for music but that depends on the specific album, easy to turn the analog processing on/off from LP via remote.

My son loves his for gaming.

Hard to find for under $300 full price since being discontinued though...

 

[Nothingness]

TV still takes up a good chunk of my free time. I spend countless hours watching woodworking content on YouTube or have CNBC on in the background. I guess it's not going anywhere for me anytime soon.

What was acting up in the Onkyo? I note that model was from the period of time Onkyo had board issues and they had provided extended warranty for a while for. Did yours get repaired earlier under that program? I did have an Onkyo affected by that, and fixed under the extended warranty, and has been fine since.

My Onkyo suddenly cut out after about 15–20 minutes of playing. I heard a relay click just before it lost sound, though the display stayed on. The unit is long past the program window (it was launched over ten years ago), and the technician still hasn't been able to fix it.

Yes, fully agree with you!

And, this is why (we? with @Keith_W) have been repeatedly suggesting/encouraging you graduating from AVRs and moving on towards PC(or Mac)-software-DSP-based multichannel multi-SP-driver multi-amplifier full-active audio setup (e.g. #931, #1009, #1,022 on my project thread) hopefully using full-sync-multichannel-DAC unit like OKTO DAC8PRO.

This post is partly/indirectly responding to your inquiry of above #17, I assume.

If you would be seriously concerned about visual portion of your audio-visual system, you can easily use your TV (or large PC/Mac monitor) as second "monitor" via HDMI connection from PC/Mac for visual only, while you can still handle all the audio signals with the multichannel audio setup (ref. #931 and here).

Spoiler

In #931, I wrote:
We can easily move/rotate, thanks to the DIY-ed big rubber casters with stoppers, the PANASONIC 55” 4K OLED TV TH-55HZ1800 in our dining room so that it faces to the listening room between the L&R SP system; it can serve as second full-color PC monitor of audio (audio-visual) dedicated PC of 4K (3840x2160 pixel) resolution, refresh rate 60 Hz, by using single slim 10-m-long optical HDMI cable.
View attachment 524688
You would please refer to my post here #508 (remote thread) regarding a kind of “reverse thinking” utilization of 4K OLED TV connected to PC in DSP-based multichannel audio rig for viewing and listening TV program and other video (YouTube, etc.), DVD movie, blue-ray-Disc movie, and so on.

Thank you for the detailed response, I'll work through it. Though I have to say, solving an AVR problem through "modular solutions" is starting to feel like enrolling in a graduate course for me. No offense, just kidding!