ssabripo's guide to a good 2chl + HT + streaming high res music setup

After trying several methods and ways of trying to get all 3 audio use cases ( high end 2 channel, multichannel hometheater, and streaming high res digital music) to play nice without getting "too" complicated (key word "too" ), I finally got my system to sound great in all three areas without the need of tons of switches and Crossovers and the like.

So, first things first: Please see the attached diagram of my system's audio connections.

A few comments and guides:

1) Any good Preamp with Unity gain (ie, HT-bypass) functionality will be needed. Without this, you cannot integrate the preamp to the pre/pro well.

2) Your Pre/Pro needs to have a "extended bass" or "redundant bass" functionality, in which bass is routed to both the subs as well as the mains when set as full range.

3) Any good DAC with either USB or Firewire will work, but keep in mind that most DACs with USB will only support 44-48Khz sampling, and thus, you will not be able to pass high resolution 192khz lossless music thru without downsampling.

4) when using wireless for the high res music via laptop to DAC, you need not only a good G (or better yet, N ) router, but also a laptop that can handle the information and process it out to the port rapidly.... I've had some problems with pentium based laptops running XP, but no issues with Windows 7 at all.

5) low res streaming (MP3's, etc) can be done to the laptop as well, obviously. I just happen to have the PS3 there and love the user interface...it serves as my media center (pics, movies, netflix, mp3's). You can use the HTPC, Xbox, Popcorn hour, or any similar device.

6) the main key is that to use high resolution 2 channel audio to the preamp, and still be able to engage the subwoofers, you will need to send the data to both the pre/pro AND the preamp. If you do not need/want the subwoofers engaged, simply connecting the data transport to the preamp will suffice.


there will hopefully be tons more discussion and questions, but I hope this helps initiate some of them, and also helps those who want it all without major complications of switches and crossovers, etc.

ps- if the attachment doesn't show up well, you can use my sig's link for the audio connection schematic for a bigger version of the pic.

that's absolutely correct Bill!

there are several methods of skinning this cat, and yes, a preamp like the Para-2100 is a great example, as is that old trusted Proceed AVP2, and many others. So absolutely:

7) if you have a Preamp with sub outs and bass management, it is much much simpler: simply pass the data stream to the preamp (no need for the pre/pro to have the same data) and enjoy your 2channel with teh subwoofer engaged.

I've gotten a few emails/PMs concerning how to get FLAC/OGG/MKV's to play correctly on windows 7 (media center and media player 12). Here is what has worked for me:

1) The lightest and best codec pack is Win7 Codecs: http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html

note: if you have 64bit Windows 7, there is a 64bit tools pack you need to be able to switch to the 32bit WMP so all files will work. Codec writers have been slow to develop 64bit codecs so we need to use the 32bit player that also comes with 64bit Windows.

If you have 64bit Windows 7, after you install the tools go to Start - All Programs - Windows 7 Codecs - 64bit tools - default media player, and click the "set 32bit WMP as default" and then the "set 32bit registry item" to make 32bit WMP the default player. 2) For Flac tag support, get WmpTagExtender and install it: http://wmptagext.sourceforge.net/

3) Make sure it's enabled in WMP: go to Options in WMP, plug-in tab, click Background and it should show in there with a checkmark, check it if it's unchecked.


4) re-scan your WMP library so Flac will show, WMP should do this automatically but make sure.