yogi

hi mike, to get the original signal out of your pc go via usb to an external hifi dac with 24-bit/192khz and from there optical to the digital input of your receiver. this way you bypass the soundcard entirely. works for music and movies. you can also use the analog rca outs of the dac. they cost only abt $200-$300 and the improvement is dramatic. here is a link for the korean styleaudio dac, but that's for australia. just google for usb dacs in the usa. http://www.soundreference.com.au/ yogi

here is another option that works very well: apogee centaurus ribbon lcr. it has 2 x 6 1/2 " woofers and a ribbon tweeter in the center. you can turn the ribbon driver into vertical position for center speaker use. dimensions are 24"hx11.5"dx9.5"w. not sure if they still make this speaker, but if you can find it i'm sure you would love it (i do! ) yogi