iwander

I have a BDP-105D that I use with a 1tb usb portable drive. Runs like a champ. I have all my CD's ripped to wav files. I also have mkv files for movies and concerts. These are on an external hard drive with 4 bays. Seems to play everything that I've tried. I use the IOS app for access to the portable drive. Or the TV screen for movies. With the 103 & 105, you can use drives larger than 2TB. I have not tried streaming. With everything on the portable drive, I did not see a need to stream. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Tarheel, What DAC are you using? I have a portable DAC/headphone amp. Teac HA-P50. I just connect the lightning cable into the usb port on the DAC. It has an analog output for connecting to a stereo. I use that at home. I mostly use the headphone jack. The HA-P50 bypass the DAC in my iphone 5. Much better sound through the Teac. The Teac runs around $200.

I have an iView 3500STB2 OTA tuner. Currently $40 on Newegg. It can receive OTA or cable. I use OTA. Antenna orientation is important for best reception. It receives HD channels. HDMI 1080p output. Dolby 5.1 if available. It can also record shows if you attach an USB HDD to it. I'm very pleased with it. I just need an outdoor antenna to get the best reception. Good luck.

Check out Musical Paradise MP-301 tube amp. $340. No radio. 2 line inputs. If you are using vinyl, you'll need to add a phono preamp. Excellent introduction to tube amps. Your Heresey's will sound great with it. Good luck.

On my 105D, I have it configured to turn on to a set volume. Regardless of the volume last played, it comes on at that set volume. No surprises at turn on. I have my 105D hooked directly into my stereo power amp using xlr cables. Cheap protection. I use my 105D strictly as a pre pro into a stereo setup. McIntosh MC2102 amp and Klipshorns. Control of the 105D is through the ipad app.

The hereseys may be bass shy if not properly placed. Cornwalls are great if you have the space. They are big. Used should be around $700-$1000. Have a look at Musical Paradise MP-301 tube amp. Excellent amp for Klipsch heritage speakers. It is an integrated amp with 2 analog inputs. No phono. What will your source units be? CD's, vinyl. Do you need a DAC. There are many SACD/universal players around $1200 new with excellent DACs built in. Oppo BDP-105. Cambridge Audio Azur 752BD. Both of those have digital inputs which can use the internal DACs. That leaves you with $1000 to spend. Turntable with phono pre-amp. Good luck.

Check out Vanatoo Transparent One speakers. My wife loves hers. USB connection to iMac.

The Anthem MRX series is great. I've had my MRX500 for almost two years now. Not a single problem. Set up ARC once and have not changed it since. Best movie sound we've had in our HT. Driving Cornwalls front and back with heresy for center. Energy sub. Best stereo sound from AVR I've found. SACD's have never sounded so good. If you're looking to buy, I would hold off for now. Talk is the new MRX-x10 series will be coming out by the end of the year. All MRX models have analog multiple channel inputs and preamp outputs. You can use a separate amp it you like. I use HDMI and the internal amp. Gets louder than I can stand. Not a bit of distortion. Best AVR for the price. No frills. Just great sound.

You might want to check into obtaining the rights to show the movie in a public setting. Being in a public park with the rec dept might constitute a commercial showing. Doing it in your own backyard would be fine. Protect yourself. Great idea though.

Youthman, I'll be keeping my 40gb for the HT setup. I still listen to music there. I will have more capacity for the main stereo setup. Pretty much all my iTunes library. No streaming. iwander

The best thing about the first gen Apple tv is the hard drive. I currently have the 40gb version. The 160gb would hold much more music. Gen 1 is extremely under powered compared to what is streamed today. Streaming on a gen 1 is very slow. Hardware was designed for 480p video. Firmware updates allowed 720p video. Extremely slow. Unit can't keep up with video streaming. Used for music in my HT setup. Gen 2 is the one commanding high prices. It can handle 720p and can be jail broken. A guy at work did that. He gave up on it because his wife was frustrated at the difficulty using it. It was no longer the simple ease of use that Apple designed. They bought the 3rd gen. It handles 1080p. I don't believe it has been jail broken yet. Gen 2 would be the one for jail breaking. I will be using the 1st gen strictly for music. I get too many drop-outs when streaming music from my Mac. It will be used in my main stereo setup. No videos. No streaming. iwander

PM sent.

The mini plug on the ipod is an analog connection. The inputs listed on your DAC are all digital. Is there an AUX input on the DAC? It would have left/right rca type connections.

derrickdj7, It would seem you are having problems receiving pm's. After all my questions, I sent a pm on Thursday afternoon accepting your sale of the M70. I received no replies. I figured you were busy preparing for the holiday weekend. Us too. After returning home last night, I was surprised and disappointed to learn you had sold the amp. Just my luck. You might want to check why you are not receiving pm's. iwander

PM sent.

Hi derrickdj1, I did not know the M70 ran in class a mode. I did not see a switch to activate the mode. Does the amp run hot like class a amps. This makes it tougher to decide between the M70 & M80. I will be driving Khorns. iwander

Hi derrickdj1, I noticed you have both the M70 & M80 amps. Is there a difference in sound quality between the two. Specifically with the M80 in class A mode. I've always wanted to listen to the Auto Class A mode but theses amps are tough to find in my area. The M70 sounds interesting too. Thanks, iwander

I was going to suggest hooking up the Oppo 103 directly to the XPA-5. The 103 would handle any inputs you need. But then I saw you had already sold the XPA-5. The Oppo 103 can handle 7.1 so you can get the pair of XPA-3's and hook it directly.

The Panny looks nice. You'll probably have to adjust the video settings. It come set too bright for plasma. We settled on the THX setting. I got the AVIA calibration disc but have never used it. THX is very good default setting. We've tweaked it many times when we first got the TV but always went back to THX. Make sure there is room to breathe around the TV. It does get hot.

If the Redmere's are 3d capable, you should be good to go. We have a 3d Panny Plasma. Best 2d picture quality is found on a 3d screen. The Panny should have ARC on it. Good luck.

Mongo, Sorry to hear about the lipsync issues. Are you using HDMI 1.4 cables? Is your TV ARC capable (audio return channel). When my Oppo 93 was hooked directly to the multi-channel amp, I connected 1.4 HDMI cable from hdmi output 1 to main hdmi input on the tv. I believed I had to activate ARC on the TV. It sent the audio from the tv to the oppo and was coming out the 5.1 setup. I did not remember a lipsync delay. I did have to set the cable both to output Dolby Surrorund. On the 93, there isn't any hdmi inputs. The tv was set to the cable box for video display and audio was sent to the oppo through the 1.4 hdmi cable using ARC. I'm hoping this might be something to look into. Good luck.

Congrats Mongo. Looks real nice. Your ATI amp is a beast of an amp. I can see why you would want to keep it. Last year I had my Oppo 93 hooked directly to my Parasound multi amp at 80wpc. Speakers were Cornwalls front and back. It sounded great with music. My main need. HT was pretty good too. My problem was the 93 was my only source. I needed 3 more HDMI inputs. Eventually bought Anthem MRX-500 HT receiver. Wonderful receiver. Still had the stereo sound I needed. HT was even better. ARC calibration software with calibrated mic. If the 105 had been available, I would have bought it. Almost the same price as 105. I think the 105 hooked directly to the ATI would be a killer combo. Get yourself another pair of Chorus' for the rear. Try it out for a while. You might change your mind on the XMC-1 and save yourself some money. Enjoy that killer setup.

Since you already have a 5 channel amp, I would work on the rear speakers for 5.1 setup. Try that setup and see if you like it before spending money on a new pre-pro. It will allow the stereo setup you want for music and HT as well. SACD's will play just fine. The 105 will play the source as intended. What 5 channel amp are you using? Would you use the same amp with the XMC-1. Something to try out before getting the XMC-1.

If you need more HDMI inputs, I would look at a HDMI selector box. I have a old Oppo HDMI selector. I don't know if they still sell it.

I would hook the 105 directly to a multi channel amp. 7.1 analog out. Save the money on the XMC and use it towards a multi channel amp. The 105 has volume control as well as multiple inputs. I've been thinking about using the 105 as the pre-pro hooked up to my Parasound 5 channel amp. I did it using my Oppo 93 and it worked great. 93 doesn't have multiple inputs so can't use as pre-pro. If my 93 was the only source, I would have done it. Use SPL meter to calibrate speakers.