AV AMP and soundbar

[CAWJames]

Afternoon all,

 

I've got an existing AV amp, STR-DN1030, but it's not 4k, so at the moment I have a cambridge audio hdmi 2.1 sound bar(the one with wireless connection to a sub).

 

Crazy idea time, I am thinking of selling the 1030 and upgrading to the 1080 or an Onkyo NR636. Now, both these have a second HDMI out, so could I run rears on the amp and fronts using the second HDMI out? only problems I can think of, is processing time and off-set sound, but surely amp should output 2.1 to the one hdmi out and then process 5.1/7.1 inhouse but only out put the rear.

 

It's only cos I have everything mounted to the wall and I like the look of the soundbar and the sub.

 

Any pitfalls anyone can think of?

 

thanks

 

James

[SamanthaD]

Hi, this is definitely a question more suited to a domestic hi-fi forum rather than us, but let's think about it...

 

So you currently have the Sony STR-DN1030 as the centre of your system, processing everything, and it all works fine, except it doesn't do UHD?

 

Surely just changing to the Sony STR-DN1080 which is UHD compatible (weird as 1080 often refers to HD, but I never understood Sony's naming system) would work?

 

One flaw I could see is if you wanted to export the audio over HDMI to another device (the soundbar you mentioned?) will that include the Dolby Atmos processing or will it be a straight passthrough?

[CAWJames]

I know, but we are such a learned(read:nerdy)bunch, I thought I would ask!

 

I don't use the 1030 at the moment, I just direct HDMI connect to the TV and use the soundbar for better sound, but I don't have surround with this setup.

 

As far as I can work out, if I output to the soundbar on one HDMI out, it should process the signal into 2.1 using the soundbar electrickery, and on the amp itself it should process the whole shebang(5.1, 7.1,5.1.2 etc) and output to the speakers connected, ie the rear ones. It just depends on processing time/sync, as their would be an extra processing step in the soundbar.

 

It won't matter about ATMOS, and I know this wouldn't work anyway, as the 2.1 in the soundbar wouldn't be object based.

 

Just a nerdy idea, and I will probably end up ditching the soundbar and going normal speakers anyway, just the soundbar is already there!

 

Thanks for the reply

 

James