new processor decision....help me decide

I can't see any reason why it would be desirable to decode - re-encode - decode. Makes no sense. If you want to use room correction and bass management, the processor needs to work with a digital signal. Therefore, you are best off feeding it a digital signal (i.e., don't have the Oppo convert to analog). If you do that, the processor will need to convert analog back to digital so that it can run the room correction, and then convert it back to analog again. For that reason, if you need room correction, put as much money as possible into the source. I have an extremely difficult room, and for me the Anthem ARC works really well. But I've never tried any other room correction systems in my room. Kal is right that the Emotiva piece isn't out yet. It looks strong for the money, but I wouldn't buy an Emotiva processor until I saw that they have solved all of their bugs.

For that price, I'd give serious consideration also to the NAD T 175-HD. You can get a factory re-furb from Spearit Sound for that budget. I believe the NAD has Audyssey MultEQ XT (not sure how that compares to the Integra's system) and an upgradeable architecture to help prevent it from becoming obsolete.

Bill, I can't make any recommendation on the processors listed or any other for that matter as I have little to no experience with home theatre systems.

The little experience I have is in regards to the integration of my Cambridge bd751 and TV into to my 2 channel system, hence the comments on decoding.

@Mateored, why "put as much money as possible into the source"? If the decoding is being done by the processor then isn't the blu-ray or other digital source acting more as a transport? Bill's selection of the Oppo 103 seems like a better choice over the 105, given that extra dollars for the 105 are mostly for the Dac, a Dac which won't be used?

@Nick_sr - that was a typo. I meant put as much money as possible into the processor. Thanks for catching that.

Bill please disregard my first post (if it actually shows up before this one), I wasn't thinking correctly.

If you connect your OPPO to the processor via RCA/coax, then you cannot use the OPPO for decoding multichannel HD audio, which must be done by the processor.

If you connect with HDMI, then the OPPO can do the sound decoding and send the PCM signal to the processor for room correction. However, I cannot think why this would be advantageous to just having the processor do the decoding as well.

So as Kr4 already answered, the Integra 80.3 (or 80.2) with Audyssey with multieq XT32 would seem to offer you the best room correction (I still am using an older Integra 9.9, and want to move up to XT32 as well).

Bill, if this is not yet clear, should you wish to use one of those processors for room correction, then you cannot use the OPPO for decoding/processing. Similarly, if you want to connect to the processor with HDMI or RCA, then you also cannot use the OPPO for decoding/processing.

Out of curiosity, why do you want to do audio processing with the source, rather than with the pre/pro?