A/V Processor and Amp for B&W speakers?

Monoprice Monolith amps.  They have a 5 x 200 for $5100 or 7 x 200 for $1729.

Outlaw 976 processor ($1000).   The Outlaw is possibly just a tiny bit light on bass power, but it's really a pretty decent sounding processor.  I've tested it in my own system before modding it for a friend.

There's an Anthem AVM-60 "New" on ebay for $2499.  It's a discount from retail.  It's going to be significantly better than the Outlaw, but 2-1/2 times as expensive, lol.

You can always just buy an amp and use the pre-outs on your Pioneer receiver for a short-term upgrade.

Any thoughts on used items?

Yes it's true that the Oppo is basically a self-contained HT processor.  However, it's great that you caught that "single HDMI input" limitation.  I was going to mention that.

The Outlaw does not have bi-amping.  I wouldn't normally bi-amp unless you had an out-board analog crossover.  That's really the only true benefit to bi-amping (but you would need to modify internal speaker crossovers).  Also, bi-amping in processors can frequently degrade sound quality because of the way they automatically try to do bi-amping signal differences.

You could always do a Y-Cable, but then you are affecting the amplifier input impedance.  The Monolith has more than enough power to drive your B&W speakers without bi-amping.

As far as the 5-channel vs. 7-channel.  The 7-channel has bigger transformers, so it's possible that it would give you slightly more power in the bass/midbass area, especially if you don't connect the last 2 channels.  It's up to you.  It's basically a $230 price option, so it depends on your budget.

I don't know if you noticed, but I typoed the price for the 5-channel.  It should be $1500.  NOT $5100, lol.

One thing about the Outlaw is that the menu/setup is somewhat cumbersome.  It takes about 3-5 seconds to bring up the menu and it blanks out the audio/video.  It pretty much treats the menu system as a completely separate source.  It doesn't have OSD overlay like every other processor.  But you can configure it and the performance is quite good.

Those Monoprice Monolith cables look to be pretty good for the price ($60 for 1 meter pair).

Other candidates I would recommend would be a couple from Audio Advisor (www.audioadvisor.com):

- Pangea TrueBalanced XLR-to-XLR ($99 for 1 meter pair).

- Kimber PBJ ($132 for 1 meter pair).


Alternatively, keep your eye out for some used Audioquest XLR cables.  There's a pair of King Cobra on ebay for $95.

I've tested the XMC-1 in my system.  It's not bad per say, but the sound is rather closed in.  It lacks dynamics/clarity.  I kept trying to turn it up, but I felt like it was hard to understand the dialog and the impact just wasn't there.  It's a well engineered processor and has Dirac room correction (if that's important).  Really the only better thing that the XMC offers is automated Dirac room correction.  The op amps are rather slow and don't have good power supply capacitance around them. It also uses switching power supply.  However, the menu/usability is probably a lot better than Outlaw.

The Outlaw has linear power supplies for all analog and DAC sections.  It has a lot of capacitors mounted right at the op amps and, in my opinion, uses better op amps.  I think the midrange impact and clarity and "separation of instruments" is going to be better on the Outlaw.

The Marantz processors are quite excellent, especially for the money you spend. It definitely is a "mass market" item, but it's engineered well with excellent power supplies and analog circuits.  It's also the only "consumer level" item with discrete analog output stages.  Marantz and Outlaw both have a slightly warm voicing with slightly rolled off high frequencies.  The Marantz would have better bass however, because power supply is much bigger.  You can also go back as far as AV 7702 MKII if you wanted.  They all use the same power supply and analog circuits.  The newer models only have additional bells & whistles plus maybe newer HDMI support.  You might have trouble finding a used Marantz for as cheap as a "new" Outlaw.  However, it's definitely going to be much less than $2k.

That's a really good price for the A5000, if it's in good condition.  Since it's missing the microphone, it's likely missing several other pieces.  Dod you get a remote control with it? 

The Yamaha is likely not going to have bass/midbass that is as full sounding as the Marantz.  However, it is going to have better high frequency resolution.  It could come across a little bright/harsh, especially if you pair it with the Monoprice Monolith amp and your B&W speakers.  You'll have to let us know how it works out.  There are ways to help calm down the Yamaha if your sound is too bright/harsh (i.e. fuse upgrade and power cord).

That's great!  I'm glad the Monolith worked out!  I think it's a much better option than the current Emotiva "Gen 3" amps. 

As far as YPAO, I personally don't like automated room correction systems.  I'd rather manually EQ something if I need and then use room treatments (acoustic panels) for the rest.