Ah... I read through your other thread about your acoustic problems... Its a fun challenge!
Im not a pro at this stuff either... Part of my confusion was your terminology.
Bass management usually means the processing in the digital domain (either the Oppo prior to the output of your 5.1 analog signals.. or the Rotel (processing the hdmi input signal). The bass management had two jobs... One, to cross over the bass information to your sub. Two, process LFE or .1 channel and manage the gain issue for the LFE channel.
The old school method of using an analog filter in your sub with your two channel full spectrum analog signals coming to the subs and then high pass info to the mains was rarely termed base management. The subwoofer was never called... .1 because there was no separate LFE channel... The subs just played the low pass analog signal they got based on your filter cutoff while your mains were easier to drive without the bass frequencies.
So, I understand your current configuration as one of setting up the Oppo to do bass management for your 5.1 channel content using the single multichannel DAC in the OPPO. Sending discrete analog channels to the Rotel for all of your speakers and subs including the LFE info and the frequency information is right for each channel/speaker. This analog info is passed through the rotel and then amplified.
What I don't understand is how you manage the bass using your 2 channel (dual sabre DACS) outputs going pure direct to your Rotel amps for Music CDs ... It seems to me that you have to go old school with one of your subs running in analog mode because your not happy with the low end of your mains in stereo. (The other sub would be driven by the LFE channel in your 5.1 setup. (I can't imagine the Oppo giving you a third discrete output channel in this mode.) But I could be wrong about what your gear will do.
My original question is not applicable.
You don't have the ability to do room correction in the digital domain in either the Rotel or the Oppo and compare all of the potential solutions.
I am surprised that the Rotel is flexible enough to pass the 5.1 analog blue ray through to the amp AND have the CD inputs also bypass the digital stage and go pure direct to the amps.
So... I understand that you are at step one... Optimize the acoustics of your current speakers and subs in 5.1 mode. You are now trying to manage the acoustics of your room with a major WAF constraint..
Step two. You will consider different speakers given the size of the room you have and WAF.
In parallel with your acoustic experiments... you might consider a PC and JRiver MC with an HDMI output to your Rotel. (splitter for the video hdmi to your TV) You could use the DSP and room management tools of JRiver on the high resolution uncompressed 7.1 formats stored on disk and go to the Rotel DACS. This would allow you to evaluate if more digital processing room correction would improve your already optimized acoustics. (You would not have to purchase a new AV receiver to try the room management solutions)
Im not a pro at this stuff either... Part of my confusion was your terminology.
Bass management usually means the processing in the digital domain (either the Oppo prior to the output of your 5.1 analog signals.. or the Rotel (processing the hdmi input signal). The bass management had two jobs... One, to cross over the bass information to your sub. Two, process LFE or .1 channel and manage the gain issue for the LFE channel.
The old school method of using an analog filter in your sub with your two channel full spectrum analog signals coming to the subs and then high pass info to the mains was rarely termed base management. The subwoofer was never called... .1 because there was no separate LFE channel... The subs just played the low pass analog signal they got based on your filter cutoff while your mains were easier to drive without the bass frequencies.
So, I understand your current configuration as one of setting up the Oppo to do bass management for your 5.1 channel content using the single multichannel DAC in the OPPO. Sending discrete analog channels to the Rotel for all of your speakers and subs including the LFE info and the frequency information is right for each channel/speaker. This analog info is passed through the rotel and then amplified.
What I don't understand is how you manage the bass using your 2 channel (dual sabre DACS) outputs going pure direct to your Rotel amps for Music CDs ... It seems to me that you have to go old school with one of your subs running in analog mode because your not happy with the low end of your mains in stereo. (The other sub would be driven by the LFE channel in your 5.1 setup. (I can't imagine the Oppo giving you a third discrete output channel in this mode.) But I could be wrong about what your gear will do.
My original question is not applicable.
You don't have the ability to do room correction in the digital domain in either the Rotel or the Oppo and compare all of the potential solutions.
I am surprised that the Rotel is flexible enough to pass the 5.1 analog blue ray through to the amp AND have the CD inputs also bypass the digital stage and go pure direct to the amps.
So... I understand that you are at step one... Optimize the acoustics of your current speakers and subs in 5.1 mode. You are now trying to manage the acoustics of your room with a major WAF constraint..
Step two. You will consider different speakers given the size of the room you have and WAF.
In parallel with your acoustic experiments... you might consider a PC and JRiver MC with an HDMI output to your Rotel. (splitter for the video hdmi to your TV) You could use the DSP and room management tools of JRiver on the high resolution uncompressed 7.1 formats stored on disk and go to the Rotel DACS. This would allow you to evaluate if more digital processing room correction would improve your already optimized acoustics. (You would not have to purchase a new AV receiver to try the room management solutions)