Ill be buying a new stereo system soon. Im buying components that are more on the hi-fi end than on the A/V Receiver end, as I think Ill be happier with the music reproduction, which is what it will be used for 80%+ of the time.
The speakers that ive auditioned and will but can be had with rear surround and center channels.
Assuming that I would want to someday go to surround sound capability, and want to keep my stereo preamp/amp for the front two channels and subwoofer... how would I get the rest of the channels in there? Assuming that my DVD/Blu Ray, HDTV, etc box had 5.1 or 7.1 analog output, i assume that I could just get an amp that will work the rest of the channels... but I have not found any reasonably priced ones, except for the Yamaha DSP-E492 which has been discontinued.
Better wouldbe something that takes the optical or HDMI output of such a box, and amplifies the channels desired... while also offering preamp outs to feed a stereo amp if one is set up for the front channels.
How would one reasonably upgrade from stereo to surround, if they want to keep their stereo amp or integrated receiver seperate from the AV stuff?
However, is there such a thing as ONLY a 5.1 or 7.1 amplifier??? Not one that also takes in and out the video signals, not one that has a tuner, just something that will take a 5.1 or 7.1 input (or digital input I suppose), and amplify it to a 5.1 or 7.1 set of channels? Of course it would need the pre out for the front two...
Does such a thing exist? It used to in the yamaha offering, but they dont make it anymore...