What is the Current Guidance on Stereo and AV Configurations

@soix Respectfully disagree. Maybe you got lucky, maybe you’re just BS’ing. But either way, I hope the OP doesn’t fall into a booby trap.

And yumpin yeezus, nobody’s talking about "understanding HTB." My first point described how a dual-purpose system would have to be operated when configured WITHOUT bypass. Maybe you can explain how a double-duty non-HTB amp would work without having to tweak volume levels as I describe.

D

@soix : "You can do this with or without a HT bypass, but it’s a little easier with it. And to answer your question, yes the AVR handles the multichannel processing and powering the center channel speaker. All you need is an AVR that has front L/R preamp outputs that you plug into the HT bypass or any other unused input on the amp. Switching between HT and stereo is as simple as changing the input on the amp, and the beautiful thing is the AVR is completely out of the signal path for critical stereo listening and only your Naim will be operational. If you don’t have a HT bypass this still works well and just requires one additional step I can elaborate on if needed."

Uh, no, there’s more to it than that. I’m not suggesting that this is a bad goal -- I described exactly such a configuration in a recent thread when setting up my own T+A-integrated / Marantz-AVR system.  And it’s worked out well. But let’s be careful not to put a happy face on the caveats. It took quite a bit of planning to get everything right.

- using an integrated that doesn’t have HT bypass is far from a "simple" inconvenience. It means that whenever you adjust the volume level of the MC receiver, you also have to manually match the level of the integrated. Without HT bypass, the two go out of sync every time you change either one. This gets even more complicated when the FL/FR receiver/speaker combination responds differently to numeric volume-dial changes than do the other channels. That is, you usually can’t simply turn up the integrated’s volume by 5 clicks in order to compensate for increasing the receiver volume by 5. Even setting default start-up volume levels on both components does not resolve this issue. You can get used to anything, but a lot of people, including me (not to mention my family members!), would find such a configuration burdensome.

- I don’t know if you have, or may someday add, an active subwoofer (this is a "home theater", after all!), but if you do, there are more constraints. Reproducing subwoofer bass when listening to stereo would mean connecting the sub directly to the integrated, using the sub’s internal crossover. But when listening to multichannel, you’d want to connect the receiver’s LFE channel to the sub, without using the sub's internal crossover. (LFE channels generally have integrated crossover frequencies much higher than what you'd want in a typical audiophile setup.) So this will only work with a sub that has at least two sets of inputs: an LFE input for the receiver and a crossover-enabled line-level in for the integrated. My MartinLogan sub does have the capability to automatically switch between two such inputs, but many subs do not.

- Finally, many of the best integrateds can’t be configured for such a setup. You’ll need a pre-out or sub-out if you have a subwoofer, in addition to the ability to configure the input connected to your receiver’s FL/FR line-level output, as an HT bypass.

What soix and others suggest is technically workable, but don’t take their advice blindly. Understand your topology and confirm that each component’s connectivity is correct for your use case before simply diving in.

So you’re basically confirming what I said and arguing with things I didn’t say.

Typical for @soix in trolling mode. Someone more interested in arguing than in actually reading other people's postings.

To quote a great man who doesn’t know his own limitations, "What are you even doing here?"

OP, for those new here, @soix has a history of trolling those who bruise his ego and, when backed into a corner, tends to retreat with "my time is too valuable to waste explaining things to my inferiors." Case in point. Sorry to pollute your thread, but this one time, I just couldn’t let it lie.

In this case, with postings that are simply getting louder, not smarter, it was hard to even identify soix’s specific point of disagreement. If I had to guess, it was an asertion that being forced to manually rebalance the volume level of a front-ch amp every time you change the volume of a multichannel processor is no big deal.

Well, that may be true for some people. But my point was that you can’t blindly make that assertion across-the-board. For most audiophiles, it’s important to take the time to correctly -- even "perfectly" -- balance front/center/surround levels every time you adjust the AV receiver volume. And, worse, for non-audiophile family members who just want to watch a movie, an extra step that likely requires an additional remote can be a dealbreaker. I can just imagine my husband’s reaction if I told that he’d have to continually rebalance front-channel volume levels unless he was willing to always watch Netflix at a single "reference" volume.

Soix, if you still feel an urgency to argue, focus on that issue. Generalized ranting about how "nothing is correct" in my explanation gets you nowhere if you don’t even try to point out and "correct" a specific statement in my message. But an even better resolution would be to just rest on what’s already been said. I know that not getting the last word may be a proglem, but I sense that this argument has started to grate on other members.

This is apparently, as those in the legal profession are fond of saying, "an issue upon which reasonable minds can differ." The grown-ups in the room should be able to agree on that.

Bottom line: OP, maybe you can live without HT Bypass. Maybe not. But I wanted to at least give you the opportunity to make an informed decision by more objectively describing the problem that HTB was designed to solve.  When you cut through the noise, I hope I was at least a little bit helpful.