Outboard surround decoder?

There are some cheepies that pop up on eBay but they are few. I would suggest an old one from a standard brand (and I have one in my closet, too).

Kal

Yamaha made a very good one in the late 90s that allowed RF, TOSLink and S/PDIF inputs with 5.1 RCA outputs. The model number does not come to mind but I owned one in 1996-1999 and remember its performance very fondly. It did DD 5.1 and Dolby Pro-Logic; I do not know if it did DTS.

You might have to get one that also includes a preamp also. I bought a B&K Reference 20 and it looks and sounds well. You might have to go to the 30 to get DPII.

I used to have a Pioneer decoder that I used with my Proceed PAV before I bought a PAV/PDSD pre/pro. My recollection was lots of cables, but I'm not sure why that recollection would be accurate, but it caused me to try a Sony 444ES for simplification. Unfortunately, transparency was sacrificed. The PAV/PDSD restored transparency.

db