is there an (AV receiver) type device that doesn't have amplifier/preamplifiers?

Search for an HDMI breakout box. Quality varies.

Good luck huntin’

thanks. but what i need would have to be able to connect to my plinius amp. so would need rca connections

My current cable box, and every other cable box I've had in the past, had L&R analog audio outputs as well as some type of digital audio output (either coax or toslink optical digital). Your cable box likely has some type audio output that is independent of HDMI. If it does have analog R&L RCA outputs or some type of digital audio outputs, you can connect the HDMI cable directly from your cable box to your projector. You would then hook up the L&R analog outputs from the cable box to one of the line level inputs on the Plinius, or connect the digital output (coax or optical) to a DAC and the output of the DAC would connect to a line level input on your Pinius via RCA L&R interconnect cables. A DAC is a digital to analog converter. It converts a digital audio signal to analog so you can then connect it to one of the line level inputs on your Plinius Integrated amp.

thanks for you reply.

my new cable box doesn’t have any analog outputs. (although my older one does, lol) my new cable box does have an optical output, though.

my plinius obviously doesn’t have optical inputs. so maybe ill look into the DA converter option you mentioned.

i wonder though, about what other processing would be currently going on inside my receiver, that would still be required besides just the DA conversion, band are there external DAC's that are made to handle this?

for example, i assume some audio sources will be stereo (ie. a news broadcast?) . while others would be multi-channel surround. as in movies?

so with nothing else in the chain but

my cable box --> optical out --> DAC --> Plinius RCA inputs,

Im not sure everything would sound correct?

I thought about going from cable box hdmi out --> right to my projector and that would be my first choice, as it eliminates an entire component that is supposedly doing nothing. but of course that only takes care of the video, and not the audio.

If you are only using your two front main speakers you don't need the AV receiver. An optical cable connected to a DAC, then to the Plinius will work just fine. I've done it many times over the years. You may need to go into the setup menu on your cable box and choose your optical output and/or 2 channel audio. But somewhere in your current chain it is downmixing any multi-channel audio to 2-channel stereo, or else your missing a lot of content (such as discrete center channel dialog and/our surround effects). But it's probable set up correctly now and down-converting to 2-channel audio somewhere in your current chain.

You can get a decent DAC for $150 or less. Buy it through a source with easy returns, such as Amazon. Return it if you can't get it to work for you. I'm confident it will work.

thanks a lot, man. you provided the info i was looking for.

It’ll be great if it ends up being this simple. I'd much rather go that route than dropping a couple grand on a half-decent receiver.

in my current receiver, Marantz  NR1403, i have it set on Stereo PCM. everything sounds about right.

i found this link of a Cambridge Audio DAC and in the product highlights it mentions this;

• "If connecting to a TV, please make sure you can select "PCM" output in its audio menu. This DAC Cannot decode multi-channel Dolby Digital signals"

so as long as i make sure all my settings in my cable box are correct, hopefully all will be good!

https://www.crutchfield.ca/S-DmkCsrfQPJI/p_779DM200M/Cambridge-Audio-DacMagic-200M-Silver.html?XVINQ=CY1&XVVer=1BI3&awcr=718828065797&awdv=c&awnw=g&awug=9194029&awkw=pla-1153375833108&awmt=&awat=pla&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7NO7BhDsARIsADg_hIbm7U_Zq2SJ3QV4oV8yjaLZAVykrtL-jn5GFKxpa_KMgu3338I2EX0aAju9EALw_wcB

btw, from your experience can the HDMI output and optical output of a cable box be used at the same time ?

on DACs, do you recommend one?

i found these two, do you think either of these would be fine for my purpose?

https://www.amazon.ca/S-M-S-L-ES9039Q2M-Decoder-Support-Control/dp/B0DFCFHQ2W/ref=sr_1_37?crid=389I9MYBYNZ6T&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Plsl9MeC6WMHBdKFJj-ZWE0EoK_FyO4jfbrEtuYe2kZMvF-BUjxH4zuxTNMuNsy5BtDwANzRVjV_rpijXd0mWoHYYA9onwvLsr5aZ4fLz6X1vfHmcZ4dfyqDISLpXjJjMHD0dM795vYR8us97iLm6J06KD9o6jE5LaET3rju3wbPsT_O_-hbGJToYJCP9T1_hm4xnVB58BMHODXyESwTgKP3wCG_BiAuCjW-HqXjIRXMYJv5elChvSv9OXD2uIEziGArdn8w0qAEc9uEJsOpdIdmfvtuZB2tqssesfg-uro4lTj6sAJSqaxNIIPqaut6ExyuEFd4n2oiEo-8xKCvTna0WjYgCt1DPKcDKd2rYNp8nK8wsXoYh3aJJIf2V_ClJIbSqR4ucu6XWE5jCu2AY6bLFWPA125qNoUWpj7If1a9gjwKFxZvzTNRHp1birvo.5mxKl1VsD84znZKy16Pj1PQ1OD4MjDNjGFcvRqGMMTI&dib_tag=se&keywords=dac&qid=1735797842&refinements=p_36%3A12500-44000&rnid=12035759011&sprefix=dac%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-37

and..

https://www.amazon.ca/Topping-E50-ES9068AS-PCM768kHz-Black/dp/B09F2BWQV2/ref=sr_1_39?crid=389I9MYBYNZ6T&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Plsl9MeC6WMHBdKFJj-ZWE0EoK_FyO4jfbrEtuYe2kZMvF-BUjxH4zuxTNMuNsy5BtDwANzRVjV_rpijXd0mWoHYYA9onwvLsr5aZ4fLz6X1vfHmcZ4dfyqDISLpXjJjMHD0dM795vYR8us97iLm6J06KD9o6jE5LaET3rju3wbPsT_O_-hbGJToYJCP9T1_hm4xnVB58BMHODXyESwTgKP3wCG_BiAuCjW-HqXjIRXMYJv5elChvSv9OXD2uIEziGArdn8w0qAEc9uEJsOpdIdmfvtuZB2tqssesfg-uro4lTj6sAJSqaxNIIPqaut6ExyuEFd4n2oiEo-8xKCvTna0WjYgCt1DPKcDKd2rYNp8nK8wsXoYh3aJJIf2V_ClJIbSqR4ucu6XWE5jCu2AY6bLFWPA125qNoUWpj7If1a9gjwKFxZvzTNRHp1birvo.5mxKl1VsD84znZKy16Pj1PQ1OD4MjDNjGFcvRqGMMTI&dib_tag=se&keywords=dac&qid=1735797842&refinements=p_36%3A12500-44000&rnid=12035759011&sprefix=dac%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-39

Yes, from my experience, the HDMI and optical outputs should be active at the same time. Any DAC that has an optical input should work. Both of the ones you listed should be good. For less money, the Schiit Audio Modi  is only $129 and is very good and from a very good company.

The only potential issue I can imagine is audio out of sync. Used to be an issue many years ago. Have not heard/seen mention of it in many years.

I think your easiest route is to use your TV’s S/PDIF digital outputs (usually optical?)  to a basic 2 channel DAC (see Topping). Just have to tell your TV to only send 2 channel sound. Use that as the input to your integrated and you are done.

No, receivers are devises which receive different kinds of sources and distribute them for future conversion or final output. Receivers could be equipped with amplification and preamplification or not depending on design and porpoise. 

yes reubent, everything worked out as you said. i ended up going with the Cambridge Audio dacmagic 200m. i got it on sale for $520 CAD($250 off) at a local audio store. this one actually has two optical inputs so i can add a second digital source if i want. and it has

the unit was super simple to set up, worked seamlessly right out of the box, plug and play, zero audio sync issues.   if anything the audio seems more in sync.

my HDMI video seems to look almost cleaner and richer.

dialogue audio seems more detailed. 

it also has bluetooth options which id like to explore as well and I'm trying to think what other digital sources i can incorporate.

@mainlymusicman  - Awesome! Glad it worked out and you have a simplified system. If you want to try another digital source, of course you can stream from your phone or computer via Bluetooth. However, Bluetooth is not a lossless format and you will have somewhat diminished sound quality. Might be good enough for you. You could also stream via a dedicated streamer such as a WIIM Mini, or another higher-end WIIM streaming device. I use a WIIM Mini and stream Spotify. Spotify is also not lossless, but it sounds good enough for me. I also just bought an inexpensive $105 SMSL PL100 CD Player/Transport that I'm going to run through my DAC as a test. If it's as good as my expensive dedicated CD player, I'm going to sell the CD Player.

thanks I’ll check out the WIIM unit. right now the only way to stream from my phone to the DAC is over bluetooth,.

looks like with the WIIM your phone is just your controller and the audio is actually on the WIIM unit  itself and can be wired to the dac?

I see the optical output on the back is labelled SPDIF. i assume optical and SPDIF are interchangeable here?

The WIIM streamers, or any other streamer, resides on your home network, either wireless/wifi or wired. You can control the streaming app from your phone or a computer. In the streaming app, such as Spotify, you select where the music is going to play. You would choose the WIIM streamer, select the song/track/album and hit play. The music files are played by the streamer and it is output to whatever you have the streamer connected to. In this case, you would have the WIIM connected to your DAC, and the music will play on the speakers connected to your integrated amp.

If you get a streamer and want to use your DAC, you'll just need to insure you have an available input on your DAC and you have a corresponding output type on your streamer. You are using an optical connection from your cable box to your DAC now, correct? You'll need another optical input on your DAC if you need to use an optical output from the WIIM Mini. The WIIM Pro has a coax output as well as optical, so you could use a digital coax cable instead of optical. Will work exactly like to optical connection.

yep thanks. thanks. i picked one up. the pro plus. it has RCA line outs as well.

i have two optical inputs on the Cambridge DAC. 

although i seem to be having an issue with many tracks being almost devoid of bass when playing music. i tried gong directly out of the WIMs RCA line outs to my integrated amp, this didn't solve it.

i may have an amp or speaker issue. or it may just be the different sources 

have to look into it tomorrow.