I’ve been meaning to set up a 2-channel, music only listening room for some time but could never find an appropriate room to put it in and if I did, my wife nixed the idea.
This weekend I decided to repurpose and rearrange some equipment I’ve had for some time in Theater B, our Bonus Room and exercise room. When I upgraded the Projector in my main Basement Theater, I couldn’t sell my old one for enough to make it worthwhile. The value drops so fast I just kept it and hooked it up in the Bonus Room/Exercise Room. Nice distraction when on the treadmill or bike trainer.
I use my favorite Vision Signature Speakers, a DIY Kit by North Creek Music, in a 7.2 configuration and they had been powered by a Denon AVR-4520CI with a Bryston 4BST powering the subwoofers. I built the sub-woofers as well.
To build a 2-channel system in the same room I added my Oppo HA-1 Headphone Amplifier that is also a fine pre-amplifier. It also has a Home Theater Bypass mode. I replaced the Bryston 4BST with an Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 2 to power the Home Theater Subs and repurposed the Bryston 4BST to drive the F/R F/L main speakers.
I also added a Bryston 7BST to power an additional subwoofer, the ScanSpeak 23W with Passive Radiator. My mains aren’t really designed to perform below 70 HZ so I am also using a Bryston 10B Sub crossover in a 2.1 configuration. I lose any previous bass management the Denon provided in by-pass mode. I am going to try a High Pass at 80 Hz with a 6db slope and low pass at 80 with an 18db slope to start.
This allows me to use the Oppo HA-1 as a stand alone pre-amp while not turning the Denon on for 2-channel listening. For movies I use the Denon and can still use the F/R, F/L speakers. In this mode, the Oppo is also turned on and simply passes the signal through via the Denon F/R F/L pre-out's and the Denon controls the volume. Best of both worlds.