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lem000
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You'll be hard pushed to find such a thing. Features sell amps... Who else would want such a limited device (well.. other than me!)
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ditto. Surprised there isnt more options out there on the web. As small form solid state computers and tech outputting digital audio hits the market I'd of thought others would want this. I wish there was an amp i could put in line between the HTPC and the speakers that listened for input (CEC?) switched on and off and increased /decreased the volume itself and hence wouldnt require yet another remote control.
I have a surround sound system but it is 5 years old and only gives output when playing a DVD. The only input I can use for the HTPC / tv is a 3.5mm stereo input which when used doesnt use the back speakers. Just fished speaker wire around the living room for the speakers but 90% of the time they aren't all used.
Anybody found anything they recommend?
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jjd-uk
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The Marantz NR1504 & NR1605 are the other options for a slim line AVR.
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What kind of HTPC hardware are you running? Although not too many posts I find this is an interesting topic, but it's difficult to suggest possible options when nobody has given much of an idea what kind of hardware they're working with. As far as I can tell though if we're starting from the end of an HDMI cable there are zero options for a worthwhile bare bones receiver.
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ahh ok I see what type of receiver we're talking about, could be time for replacement by the sounds of things..
The thing with that amp Heemid17 suggested is all it will do is amplify an analog signal. This could work if the sound card on your box is the type that has 5.1 out via 3.5mm plugs - you could use 3.5mm to RCA cables to go into an amp like that and output from there to speakers. In this case volume would be controlled by the software. This setup however would not allow you to go in from devices with digital only out such as RPi - if those external 5.1 DACs are any good that would be your middle man.
The result I guess is a sub $100 5.1 'receiver' / amp setup which may or may not sound any good. My experience with little amps boards like that has been limited to the realm of highly power efficient $20 stereo boards which I've used in boombox modifications and the like with some surprisingly good results, so I would be interested to see what can be achieved with a surround setup.
There's a bit more to it though so some investigation will definitely go a long way.
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(2014-08-08, 03:24)Stereodude Wrote: (2013-01-11, 01:27)heemid17 Wrote: Do all the audio processing in the HTPC then send out for amplification.
That can be a little dangerous for a couple of reasons.
1) If something can change the volume of your HTPC behind your back like a game or application you could find yourself with extremely loud audio coming out your speakers.
2) If there's a turn-on or turn-off thump in the analog outputs of the HTPC you could potentially damage something after pushing it through a high gain amplifier.
I wouldn't worry about that at all. People do this all the time, and what you're describing is almost any setup that isn't using passthrough. Set the gain structure in a sane manner so that in the event the HTPC maxes out the input you don't hurt anything.
