After many hours of trying to figure out the best solution to my problem i have had to admit defeat(been a while since i've bought a new system and the terminology has me baffled) so any help would be much appreciated
Currently i have a Nad 320BEE amp, and B&W303 speakers, PS3, Satellite TV, PC, and a panasonic txp50x20b TV.
The PS3, satellite and PC are all linked to the TV via HDMI, and i have utilised the RCA outs on the TV to link to the amp, and all is well.
Luckily for me, my (significantly) better half has treated me to a pair of B&W CM8s for my birthday , on condition the 303s go into the kitchen for her! which is where my problem begins....
Now i have a cracking pair of speakers for the living room i'd like to get the best out of them. Also, the Nad 320BEE doesnt have multi zone capabilities and i think the CM8s are deserving of a better amp anyhow!
I have a budget of no more than £1000 and i know im asking a lot here so im guessing i'm going to have to compromise somewhere. Im gonna be listening to music 90% of the time, watching films 10%, so surround sound doesnt internest me.
ALL of my music is stored on PC (some FLAC mostly 320kbps MP3s) and im currenty just using cheapo onboard graphics/soundcard with HDMI out to TV. Ideally (although this is not essential) i'd like to be able to output different sources to zones 1 & 2 simultaneously.
Im guessing running everything through the TV as i am at present isn't gonna give me the best sound quality, so i have been looking at AV receivers.
The main problem i have is that from what i can gather, most AV receivers wont output audio to zone 2 from digital (ie my HDMI pc link) inputs. This is an absolute necessity. Is this correct?
I was thinking of buying the yamaha rxv-671 receiver, as well as a Cambridge audio DACmagic to go between the PC and receiver (via usb). This would then give me analogue signals from the PC which the receiver could transmit to zone 2.
However i have found out that windows 7 doesnt allow you to output from two different sound cards at once(the USB connected to DACmagic being one, and the onboard HDMI audio/video being the second). This may not be a problem, as you can select which soundcard is the default, so assuming i set the the DACmagic as default soundcard, and onboard HDMI out as default graphics it SHOULD be ok, IF i the receiver will display sound from one source and video from a different source simultaneously. Anyone have a definitive answer to this, or experience of other recievers that can?
I don't know what route to go down. My TV has Digital Audio out (toslink i believe) and i will have the spare 320BEE amp which could be used in the zone 2 system as opposed to wiring straight to the AV recievers speaker terminals. Please help im at the end of my tether im DYING to try these CM8s out but am reluctant to until i have the system set up satisfactorily!
