[QUOTE]Originally posted by charlie:
As long as you're dreaming why not a all digital signal chain, right out to the active speakers?[/QUOTE

because i object to the digital processing of the signals before d/a conversion.

all that's required to process digital multi-channel formats after decoding is preamplification for unity gain to any amplifier, high and low pass filters, slopes, phase control and delay. d to a conversion has to happen eventually in any case. i prefer the conversion first and the processing to be
done in analog.

digital processing, as it exists, is based on a flawed system, is in it's infancy and doesn't impress me.

analog filters, delay, preamplification and routing on the other hand, are easy to precisely design and predict in conjunction with active speakers.