Stereo 2.0 and Movie 7.1.4 with digital crossover together ?

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Dear All,

I'm simply stuck how to proceed, which way to go. Maybe you can help me.

Basics:
- 70% of the time 2.0 stereo use for music
- 30% of the time extended with smaller speakers (and subs maybe) to 7.1.4 (Dolby Atmos)


Plan1 music only:
- miniITX MiniPC with Kodi, Pink Faun I2S card inside with PS-Audio-like HDMI out
- I2S via HDMI into Matrix Audio X-Sabre Pro DAC (PCM, DSD decode at extreme resolution, not sure if I need these)
- stereo analog signals into electronic crossover
- 6 analog signals into the corresponding amp modules and 2.0 3-way setup is done
- DSP on PC side in digital domain

Plan2 music only:
- miniITX MiniPC with Kodi
- MiniDSP whatever version via USB or similar
- Room correction, DAC, etc. built-in into miniDSP. DAC limited to 24/96, PCM only, no DSD stream
- MiniDSP outputs -> 6 amps, 3-way 2.0 is accomplished

Plan3 movie only:
- miniPC with Kodi
- some kind of good home theater processor with built-in room correction, EQ, DSP, whatever
- Dolby Atmos, DTS:X decode
- 7.1.4 = 12 channels, where:
.. 2 analog channels: onto the 2.0 stereo set, electronic crossover in analog domain
.. sub channel for sub, clear..
.. 4 channels to the 4 small ceiling speakers, all 2-way DIY, with either passive or active electronic crossover


What about stereo PCM/DSD (SACD) decode, DAC sample rates when using in stereo mode, etc.. ? :confused:

Do I need maybe some kind of hybrid solution switchable on my preamp or how would you do it ?

Theoretically (don't laugh please) :rolleyes: I'd need digital signals split in digital domain into 3 channels each (3-way XO) , this makes then 12 channels (7.1.4) multiplied by 3 = 36 channels with SACD/DSD/ATMOS/..

:D

Mission Impossible ?
 
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I'm playing with Pulseaudio Crossover Rack by member Tfive and think it may be a solution to your problem.
You could set up two profiles, each outputting to different sound cards (perhaps even the same cards) and select the[profile to suit the occasion. That way, you could use only one linux box, play music with, say, Clementine, and play videos with, say, VLC (or both with VLC). There are remotes available for both.
 
Hi,

I'm facing similar conundrum. After a lot of mulling over it, my plan to attack the problem cost effectively is to divide my audio system in two "subsystems", stereo and surround, where the surround system front left/right channels are another input source for stereo system.

Subsystem A: Stereo. S/PDIF signal from media PC into a DCX2496 crossover. Good enough ADC converter (Behringer SRC2496) for my analog sources (turntable mainly). Volume control done before DCX2496, either in digital or analog domain; digital signal selection by a simple rotary switch. Stop worrying about "losing bits of digital resolution", it all boils down to S/N ratio, just as with analog volume control. The only difference is that analog VC is done after DAC and pre-amp stages, but since a power amps noise floor is generally noticeably higher than a DACs noise floor, it's in practice a non-issue with 24 bit digital.

Subsystem B: Home cinema. An AV receiver with pre outs does all the video and surround sound processing, front channel pre outs go to stereo system via ADC. You can use a dedicated pre-pro and use ADC+DSP and separate power amps for surround channels too. Stop worrying about extra ADA conversion step, these days it's pretty transparent, certainly not a big deal for movie sound. Although for pure music avoiding extra ADA conversions IMO is generally a good practice, it's not essential.

Now, if you listen to a lot of surround format music and/or want to avoid ADA conversion, it gets complicated, expensive and frustrating. AFAIK the best solution for that is Trinnov Altitude, but if you cannot afford that, the only way is to give up AV pre-pros, forget Atmos and use PC based DSP exclusively.
 
Hmm. Good ideas..

I also thought about splitting music and movie meanwhile and came to following idea:

If an AV preamp (home cinema processor) has analog outs (and it has, via XLR just like many of them), I'll first connect the PC's HDMI with the processor, I let it process and do room EQ, DSP, everything and then the line level output signals for the stereo front speakers will go through my preamp where I simply tie them to the "movie" input with some kind of quality input selector switch (maybe using relays, IC, whatever)..

And there would be a "stereo" mode where the DAC's analog output would be connected to - to the same input selector.



So basically, all smaller monoblocks of movie channels would be driven by the HT preamp directly while the stereo L/R channels would have an input selector in front of the bigger monoblocks and that will decide what I'd like to listen to.

To put it simple

Stereo: PC -> I2S via HDMI into DAC/DSP -> input selector switch within preamp -> L/R monoblocks

Movie: PC -> HDMI 2.0 into HT processor -> input selector switch within preamp for L/R and direct connections for all other channels.
 
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