audio receiver suggestions?

[skeptic]

If things go well, by the time I'm ready to start equipping my media room 810 will be out.  To that end I will need some kind of 5.1 surround sound.  Current plan is go use the Acer Aspire Revo as a MD, meaning I'm pretty much stuck with HDMI for surround sound out of the MD, or possibly a USB sound card.  Along with the MD, I want a small receiver that can be wall mounted and hid behind the TV or even integrated into the sub woofer.  I also want it to be able to be controlled via rs232 or usb.  I'm not even sure if something like this exists.  Any advice?

[brake16]

Tall order.  Receivers are generally beasts that require a shelf, and some serious cooling.

Have you considered using self-powered speakers?  If you can find a USB sound card that supports discrete channel out, you could directly connect that to your speakers.  They turn on when they detect a signal, so you wouldn't need to control them via LMCE, they would act as an extension of your MD.

Alternatively, look at some of the sound bar solutions.  For a not-insignificant-sum o' cash, you can get a self-powered sound bar that houses a dozen (or a few dozen) speakers.  They're typically about 6 inches deep, mount under your flat panel tv, and the nice ones do a fantastic job of simulating 5 channel surround using a microphone to optimize themselves to your room.  Here's a couple of Yamahas that take HDMI in/out, so you hook the Revo to the sound bar, to the tv.  All controlled by LMCE.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_022YS3050B/Yamaha-YSP-3050-Digital-Sound-Projector.html?tp=6561
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_022YSP4KB/Yamaha-YSP-4000-Digital-Sound-Projector-Black.html?tp=6561

Good luck
Bryce

[geekyhawkes]

I do love sound bars, but they are so damn expensive still IMHO. Are the earlier Yamaha sound bars Plug and play with mce (im thinking YSP1 or or the YSP600/900 series?). 

[brake16]

Weeeeelllll........

These expensive sound bars in the earlier post aren't directly plug-n-play with LMCE.  They're indirectly pnp because they turn on automagically when they detect a signal.  In practice, they become an extension of the MD which is part of the LMCE system (by definition).

I don't know if the earlier versions have the same auto on/off (probably since subwoofers have done this for years), and I don't know how good a job they do of simulating 5 channel surround (they usually still recommend a subwoofer, hence no '.1'). 

Bryce

[skeptic]

Somehow I missed the replies...  I do not want a sound bar, my room is wired for 5.1 surround and one way or another that's what I'll be doing. 

I did run across a Sony HTIB (no Blu ray/DVD player) that may fit the bill: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10245903-1.html .  Looks like if I could get spdif out or even discrete speaker out I'd have a TON more options.  Anyone know of a plug and play audio USB device with optical spdif and/or 5.1 via multiple audio jacks?