2. home-theater
  3. 1355888103

Home theater with hard drive music - Totally lost.

I've always been a 2 channel guy so please forgive me.

I'm trying (again) to set up a home theater for my father while I'm in town.

I just bought him a new Samsung 8000 tv (it's replacing a 15 year old rear projection!) and I already have a center channel, right, left and two rear surrounds from Sonus Faber but I forget the model.

I have ripped all his CDs to a hard drive he listens to using an older iMac.

His amp/receiver just blew up.

What do I need to get him listening to music again from his hard drive, watching DVDs and listening using Spotify?

I'm looking to spend no more than $2,000.

I'm a bit confused on 'audio streamers' like the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic system. What is this? I read a mini review and still don't understand although it noted that it can't place apple lossless which is the format all my father's CDs are and I'm not changing them all to Flac.

I'm assuming all I need is a home receiver and a blue ray player compatible with 3d since his TV is so equipped.

I'd really like some type of setup that allows him to control everything from his laptop which he usually has on his lap while he watches TV. Is there any way to get rid of the imac and allow him to wirelessly control the music on his external hard drive from his laptop?

Also, if anybody knows a shop in the New York area I'm happy to pay someone to come sort this mess out. I'm losing my mind. All I want to do is get on with setting back up my turntable and go to sleep...for a long time.

Thanks in advance!
kublakhan

Showing 1 response by dtc

dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
You can connect a USB hard drive to the Oppo. The files have to be in wav or flac. You can convert Apple lossless to flac using the batch converter in dBpoweramp. I would suggest the 103 rather than the 93 for this, as the 103 has a better interface than the 93. The 103 allows you to select by genre, arist, or album, which the 93 does not do. But the interface on the 103 is by no means as flexible as in iTunes or one of the other computer based players.

You may be better off with a PC or Mac using iTunes or some other player and sending the signal out the USB to a USB to S/PDIF converter and sending that into the receiver. Some receivers have usb input, so you can skip the converter. You can control the music computer from a laptop or tablet or phone, depending on what player you use.

The Airport Express is also a very good option. It has optical digital out that can go to the receiver. You can also get analog out from it, but the receiver probably has a better DAC than the Airport Express. With the AE, the music files stay on the laptop and are streamed wirelessesly to the AE and then out the optical cable to the receiver. He can then use the same player software on the iMac that he has been using. This may be the best option.

Depending on which Sonus Faber speakers he has you might want to be someone selective about the receiver. A $500 entry level model is probably no going to do justice to them.
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