An argument for older processors

Hope you enjoy it.

If your TV is an old Plasma, and you don't have an Atmosphere set up that you need to feed, you should be good to go

I kind of agree, kind of disagree.  I've had a very difficult time getting a good sounding HT processor at all.  I was doing a similar thing, sticking to an older model, Theta Casanova, and trying to avoid jumping onto that new fangled HDMI.  I went through a number of processors before settling where I am now, with an Anthem MRX 540. 

The part I agree with is that Atmos and DTS:X just don't have a lot of content out there, and I'm not about to buy extra speakers.  At 6 speakers that's all I'm putting in my living room.

The part I kind of disagree with is the sound quality of the latest generation of Anthem receivers.  They absolutely sound better than the AVM 50 I had before even before engaging room correction.  Having fairly good web interface, HDMI Audio Return Channel, and fairly good intercommunication with my TV and TV remote make it worth it.

Personally, given a choice, I'd rather buy a new MRX receiver and use it as a processor than stick to my old AVM 50.

PS - One thing I didn't really explain well enough is that a lot of processors sound like garbage.  The sound was reedy and thin, that's why I stayed with the Theta for so long. It just sounded great.

One big exception in my quest for good sounding movies was the Oppo 103 with it's 7.1 channel outputs.  Together with a very rare Parasound 7.1 channel pre I finally had great sounding movies as well as music, but you can imagine the number of cables and the difficulty I had in getting HDMI ARC to work consistently.

I still have a Krell Showcase. Still works great. I have it set up balanced w/a pair of Bryston amps and a Parasound amp for the center. I use the 7.1 audio outputs from my Cambridge Audio Blu-Ray into my Krell for surround. . SQ is as good as anything out today. I think w/out HDMI it's one reason that it's lasted so long.