CatOhCat

I saw video out-puts at the back of the iNova which doesnt exist in the Nova. How would that function perform?

I would say CA is the most constructive forum among others I have this post on. My thanks to all advices here, especially to Miska for pointing out the subwoofer issue & switch box suggestion. I hope this thread will be useful to anyone who want to integrate a fully computer based HT & Stereo system. Here's my Pre-final schematic: + Having an Emotiva XPA-5 Amplifier to drive the whole system. By using a single ammp, uneven sound problem (by blueixus) would be solved. + HT surround will be handled by an AV Receiver with pre-amp outputs, or economically a Pre-amp Receiver such as Emotiva UMC-1. Stereo music will be handled by a DAC. A good quality switch box will allow switching between two system. + Subwoofer will be input by both High Level Input & LFE. This requires the subwoofer an ability to accept both input at the same time and having a switch to by-pass its low-pass-filter for LFE mode. I'm confirming with Focal whether their sub can do this. Else, replacing Focal sub with a REL T5 or BK XLS-200 will do. I'm not sure if there is any similar sub in the US? In short, now I need to press 2 buttons to switch between two systems (switch box & subwoofer low-pass filter bypass). This is the switch box I will order: http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/dynamic/eshop_products.set/ref/1514/rca-phono-audio-switching-unit-3-way/display.html If one wants to omit the switch box, a DAC with HT-bypass is needed. However this will limit the choices of DAC. The Peachtree Nova was a good option, too. However surfing through all the reviews, it is a good DAC but with a half-baked amp as I suspected. It's just too bad there is no place nearby for me to audition the Nova to confirm this. The new iNova seems better but too expensive. T-2 DAC ( www.neuhauslabs.com/amplifiers ) is also an interesting DAC, if only they have more power...

The Nova is surely no joke for its power. I'm just afraid on Impedance Matching, whether the odd 6ohm amp is comfortable to drive 8ohm speakers according to this link: http://www.horrorseek.com/home/halloween/wolfstone/Audio/spkimp_SpeakerImpedanceMatching.html

The Focal Dome Subwoofer has a crossover knob which will be activated when High level input is used. In 5.1 mode, the LFE line will disable the Subwoofer crossover, letting the AV Receiver handles the job. The HK990 is a good recommendation but i believe it is best suited with more profile speakers than the tiny Focal Dome. Perhaps I should start looking for a heavy duty passive switch boxes now Talking about cabling & distortion, the switch box should be much better than mazes of circuits inside the integrated i guess I have just come across this product, enlighten my knowledge: http://www.onecall.com/product/Peachtree-Audio/Nova-Rosewood/Integrated-Amp/_/R-97341 (edit: bikemig found it before me . I saw your signature, I happen to use macMini for my HT, too!) It seems like a perfect solution for this case: integrated USB DAC with amplifier, plus HT bypass! The only set-back is the apl only at 80W 6ohm, while the nominal impedance of Focal Dome is 25-100W 8ohm.

Thanks Miska for the advice. As I'm using a USB DAC as a pre-amp, there is no DAC with HT-bypass in the market to my knowledge. Thus I can only connect the AV Receiver to the external Amplifier. It seems an integrated stereo amp with HT-bypass is the only choice now. If the HT-bypass is on, can I assume that the inputs from both the DAC & the AV Receiver will go directly to the amp?

I'm planning to set - up a PC based Home Theater System building around the Focal Dome 5.1 speakers. It will be put in the living room thus I aim is to achieve: (1) a good 2 channels system for music: PC --> DAC --> Amp --> Left/Right Speaker + Subwoofer (2) a 5.1 system for movies/games/etc. : PC --> AV Receiver --> Front Left/Right Speaker by external amplifier. Subwoofer, Rear Left/Right & Center Speakers by AV Receiver Below is a simplified diagram of this ideal set-up. When I want to listen to music I will turn off the AV Receiver, and vice versa with movie watching: I'm facing a few difficulties which I hope to have advices from bros here: + Is there any non-integrated Amplifier in the market that allow me to switch between two audio sources and output only to the two speakers? + If I using an integrated Stereo Amplifier instead ( they have multiple inputs!), does it defeat the purpose of my quality USB DAC since the signal will be processed again by a not-so-good built-in DAC of the integrated Stereo Amplifier? + Subwoofer: Any different on performance between High-Level Input & LFE input? There's this guy claiming the latter is much better: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1010837