This is mostly for you Rene but having giving your comments some thought I have a few comments and thoughts. The biggest would be to not use any of the management features in the OPPO. I have the 103 and can say from experience it does a lousy job regarding levels and distance and forget downmixing as it will not get the job done. I tried using mine as the hub in a 2.0 then a 2.1 system to bad effect. Life improved greatly when I bought my 975 and let it handle all of the audio. The 103 is a great disk spinner/media hub but leaves much to be desired regarding audio processing. There is a reason the '05 series machines from OPPO run a $1,000 more over the '03's. The 105 OPPO can be used as a good stand alone pre/pro where the 103 is dissapointing at best when used in the same capacity.

I give you an A+ for creativity but think you will have much greater success if you were to simplify your thought process a bit.