Lon, agreed on all counts. I like the idea of the Perfect Wave's source control capabilities, though I have the Oppo's volume control,, and its DAC section is very, very good. Less resolving than my modded PSA DAC with the Audiophileo, but musical. So, once I have the Ultra set up, the Oppo lets me play couch potato well. Devices like the PW, the Sonore, the Auraliti, the Oppo will keep converging and expanding our options. I actually think the PW DAC & Bridge are on my "next possible" list, because they should be much more effective ST serving my music from the NAS into the Ultra. The Oppo is good, but the PW combo should be great.

And yes, hard drives fail, and so do SSDs, but less so. That's why I have two separate RAIDs and cloud backup. We will benefit from increasingly fail-safe storage. In reality, the PW is doing that for you transactionally already. It is converting optical disc storage (that can also fail and be easily damaged, like LPs) to information on the fly and buffering it. Eventually, we will have truly fail-safe storage and fully integral data delivery. As long as I can pass that information through my valves, I will be happy.

Heh, Michael, pics will definitely be provided.

Yeah, I know it buffers only a few seconds, but that paradigm of "separate the read and interpret functions" is probably just the beginning of far more robust buffering. I was speaking abstractly.

I have everything in place, with the exception of one center channel speaker and the still unfinished ZenStyx. I am only using one center speaker for now. But the racks are set up with the full complement of all the amps, and the mid-fi system, along with the Comcast PVR, Apple TV, Wii, and related stuff and the two PS Audio Power Plants. A little bit of cable management, and it will be well set. Small funny diversion: when I powered everything up, my SE84ZS did not want to start up. Checked the Power Plant sockets, checked the DRS cord, and finally checked the hideaway fuses, and voilà, no fuses! Not sure how she passed bench testing, but it was a quick and amusing fix. As it is right now, it is a delight. And I think I can make room for that PW DAC/Bridge.

This will be the first of several pics. Obviously, I have some finishing to do here, what with cable management and the second ERR in the center to get done (though 3 across the font looks cool):

Is it kind of weird photo effect or I'm seeing fatter ERR's on the sides?  



PD: I think I didn't tell it before, the ERR's sound better with the grills off, and I don't like that so much...

Greg, the PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC IS only two channel output, so not sure that will help. I think you need what I think they call an "AV Processor" and I confess I know nothing about those, my whole experience with video playback is just two channel. I've never had a 5.1 or 7.1 set up. I guess your Oppo doesn't have an input?

Hey sounds like a good solution on the horizon. I'm about to head out on a motorcycle ride to my brother's wedding in Ohio and back, so I won't be online much.

Here are the two items I bought to enable full use of the Ultra as a preamp front end for my HT system. Note that these would NOT be necessary if you use the Ultra only as a front end for an HT and one or two other 2-channel sources. (Steve, if you found some other way to solve this, please let me know.) But I have two other sources (HD cable and Apple TV) that have 5.1audio worth putting through the Decware system. Yes, I could run their HDMI outputs straight into the Panasonic flat panel, but the sound coming out of flat panels generally, and the Pannys specifically, is so atrocious, and it seems quite a waste to have this sort of audio system and not get the full benefit of it.

Note also that, if any one of your sources, be it the DVD, Blu-Ray, or something else, also has control center input capabilities, you might not need this adaptation. I bought two items from HDTV Supply:

1. A 2x1 5.1 channel switcher. A 3.1 would have been more convenient, but it's not mandatory. Depending on physical layout and cabling, This will permit me to have two 5.1 sources running into the Ultra. When and if I decide to add a third, I will get one more of these. Biggest downside of these: no IR remote control. I have looked all over for one with IR, asked the vendors, etc. No luck.

2. A 4x2 HDMI-7.2 matrix switcher. This is what lets me separate the 5.1 audio channels from the HDMI supplied by the Cable and the ATV. Note that it is possible that this unit will be all I need. The folks on the phone and email—who were all great, BTW; HDTV definitely has my business for the future—sent me the user manual, and walked through it with me. We think it might be possible to plug the Blu-Ray audio out into the 4x2, along with the HDMI from the cable and the ATV. If that works, I am set, an I have remote control.

Granted, this won't be quite as automatic as the current Denon system, because everything there is remote controllable. It's pretty cool to touch one rectangle on the Harmony remote control screen, and everything turns on and is ready ro go. But quality has its price, eh?

Let me know if you have any questions. (NOTE: cross-posted in Ultra forum as well. Hope that's okay.)