alfred

Thank you all, and have a wonderful holiday.

Hi Rudi, Your 2-ch/multi-ch setup makes sense and I understand the logic in properly allocating resources. Each piece of equipment has a fixed usable life, tube amplifier is a good example. The amount of time you use the setup for movies will then be subsequently deducted from the life span of the expensive stereo equipment. Thus giving me a sense of "wasting resources". A two separate system setups, one for movies and one for music, would be great if real estate permits.

Hi Rudi, Thanks for you input and uuuuuuuuum you get me thinking, opposite to my original direction. With your 2-ch/multi-ch setup, do you "feel" like "wasting" your good stereo resources (spkrs, preamp)on movies or 24/48 multi-ch music?

Thank you gentlemen for all of your help. Even with the planned multi-channel/HT setup, I will still listen to music mostly in 2-channel mode. Well, hopefully in multi-channel mode when Blue-ray "hi-rez" materials are available. Albeit Blue-ray's capability, it is kind of a waste that most of the audio recordings so far are coded with 24/48. Before I came across CA's website, I auditioned the new NAD T748 and Anthem RX300. I auditioned in stereo mode only. I like the NAD better. However, It is my understanding that the NAD T's do not have ethernet port. How do you configure / connect your NAD onto a computer-based network? or How do you playback stored 24/192 files thru NAD (or NAD's DAC) otherwise? Thanks again. PS: Among Dennon (AVR-3312CI), Marantz (AV8005), Integra (DHC 80.2), Onkyo (NR709) networked receivers, even with the 24/192 DAC's, none claims the capability of 192 kHz playback. Pioneer Elite VSX-53 is the only one that I found so far claims this capability. I have not audition the Pioneer yet. Hopefully I do not have to raise my budget. I auditioned the GoldenEar Triton Two speakers and like it very much.

I was researching for Blue-ray music playback capability and stumbled upon the CA website a week ago, and I have been reading pass mid-night since. Even as a total beginner, I'd like to start my journey into the CA world. Pease help me with the questions listed below. 1. There are many AV receivers have the capability of playing back high-rez music files via a home network. The Pioneer Elite VSX-53 (7.1, MSRP $1,100) is capable of pulling 24/192 WAV, FLAC files over a Window-based PC network. Will the VSX-53 or any other capable AV receivers be a good / acceptable start? I have not read any topic regarding AV receivers in a CA setup, are there any inherent shortcomings with AV receivers? 2. From the downloaded VSX-53 users manual (not purchased yet, just researching), the only connection needed between the receiver and the PC is the Ethernet port. There is no USB or S/PDIF connection needed. Does this sound correct? 3. What is (pure audio?) Blue-ray's potential in competition with the CA, especially considering Blue-ray's additional capability in multi-channels? Thanks in advance for your help.