It has been over 15 years since I last had a surround system so I am quite out of the loop as far as it goes, apologies for any ignorance on display here. I have a set of 5 Spendor speakers that I am looking to wall mount in our lounge which will, along with a subwoofer (MJ Acoustics Reference 200), form the basis of a 5.1 set up. Blu ray player is a Sony BDP-S760 which has analogue 5.1 outputs as well as digital and HDMI outputs too.
The system will be for movies but I would like it to make a half decent stab at stereo music too, maybe as a 2.1 set up as the subwoofer has both high level and RCA inputs and the Spendor speakers are likely going to need some help in the lower end. I need a 5.1 processor and am unsure how an older one (Meridian 568 and Arcam AV9 are a couple of the ones I have been thinking of due to their decent stereo reputation) interacts with a more modern blu ray player and more recent types of surround sound replay (it was strictly Dolby Digital and DTS back when I last knew about such things).
Would something like the aforementioned Meridian or Arcam still suit my basic needs or are there better, more recent examples of A/V pre amps (I have powers amps going spare to use) that I should be looking at? Budget wise, I would rather keep it to the s/hand price of said Meridian/Arcam units, in case of more recent suggestions.
The system will be for movies but I would like it to make a half decent stab at stereo music too, maybe as a 2.1 set up as the subwoofer has both high level and RCA inputs and the Spendor speakers are likely going to need some help in the lower end. I need a 5.1 processor and am unsure how an older one (Meridian 568 and Arcam AV9 are a couple of the ones I have been thinking of due to their decent stereo reputation) interacts with a more modern blu ray player and more recent types of surround sound replay (it was strictly Dolby Digital and DTS back when I last knew about such things).
Would something like the aforementioned Meridian or Arcam still suit my basic needs or are there better, more recent examples of A/V pre amps (I have powers amps going spare to use) that I should be looking at? Budget wise, I would rather keep it to the s/hand price of said Meridian/Arcam units, in case of more recent suggestions.