Oppo 105 and Cary 11 Surround Processor

Sgr. A few quick things to be aware of and I'm assuming that in every case you will be using analog outs and lossless audio formats.

1) You won't get room correction and the bass management that offers. That's a big deal. I suggest looking at external sub EQ options.

2) You can only set speaker distances in one foot increments on the oppo vs. 1/2 foot increments on a processor (unless that's changed with newer oppo units). There is also a limitation with the maximum distance of speakers. I don't recall the details but it is something like you can't have anything greater than the mains. So if your subs are further away distance wise than the mains then you can only have the max distance as the mains. Again I'm fuzzy on that as its been years sine I looked at it but it was a problem for me when I was transitioning from 5.1 to 7.1 and was using the oppo directly much as you are describing

3) you don't get additional processing modes like PLII or DTS:Neo6 or any THX re EQ that comes with a processor that handles the HDMI signal.

4) I'm assuming that the Carey has 7.1 channel analog input? When I set something up similarly with my Anthem AVM20 I only had 5.1 channel input.

So it's doable especially if the OPPO is the only source. You just need to weigh the trade offs.

I would pass on the Cary 11. Try to find an Anthem. Much better IMO.

Elescher
Which Anthem would you suggest?

I use an Oppo 105 with a Cary 11a. Some previous informations needs to be corrected. The 105 sets speaker distance in quarter foot intervals; subs can be farther away than mains; bass management is available if you set SACD output to PCM. The sound from one of top Anthems may equal that of the Cary, but that seems to be in dispute. If you can afford a Classe SSP 800, that would be a good choice, but I haven't seen one used for under about $6K.

The analog section of the 105 is superior to that of the 103. It has an HDMI port on the back and another on the front, as well as an asynchronous USB port. The 105 is essentially a processor, so if it has sufficient ports, you may want to skip a separate processor and go directly from the 105 to a multichannel amp.

I take analog 7.1 and balanced stereo from the Oppo 105 to a Cary 11a. The inputs of the 11a are set to bypass, so the 105 does the processing, sets speaker distances, crossover, and so forth. Video goes directly from the 105 to a projector -- a DirecTV HD-DVR uses the rear HDMI port of the 105, a Mac Mini the USB port. A Sony XA5400ES and phono stage are the other inputs to the 11a, so I need a separate processor, and chose the Cary 11a for its audio quality, knowing it was buggy with HDMI. Video and audio with the setup are superb.

db