No, the garage has my old deftech setup in it, so it is 7.1.0. It is connected to 40" TV and Apple TV so we can stream music or work out videos. Would be easiest to just have an avr out there.
Doesn't have to be a super high end unit of course and I don't care about 8k compatibility. Was just thinking if a mediocre unit is going to cost $500, but I could get a really nice unit for a reasonable amount more it made some sense. The benefit to the ones mentioned above is they could substitute temporarily in my main system without missing a beat should that AVR need repair. Silly thought I guess, but trying to think of long term planning and redundancy.
I had gravitated to the A780 due to the price of the refurb and the fact that it would be a Yammy and have musiccast. At this point, I think the musiccast feature is not one that I'll really need for that room, but overall flexibility is of value.