Purchase a receiver or what? need your advice.

@auxinput

Nicely put. I personally did not like auto room correction until recently when I was auditioning or demoing a new processor to replace my outdated Classe SSP 800.

I demoed both Datasat RS20i and Audio Control Maestro both have Dirac Live. I also had a chance to demo the Anthem AVM60 with its proprietary ARC2, the McIntosh MX160, Trinnov Altitude 18 and the Lyngdorf MP-50 all have Room Perfect. I ended up getting the Lyngdorf MP-50. The McIntosh MX160 & Lyngdorf MP-50 are pretty much very similar except the MX160 has analog audio inputs and the Lyngdorf MP-50 does not. I do not need analog audio inputs on my AV processor as it’s used strictly for surround sound (home theater). I’m only using HDMI input on my AV processor connected from the Oppo 205, which is my only AV source in my dedicated home theater room.

Anyways, my HT room is very well treated and was purposely built from scratch for that purpose. As you know that I’d been using the SSP 800 with no auto room correction for over 7 yrs with great results. I only used the Classe’s manual PEQ sparingly.

IMO, when properly calibrated using RP my new Lyngdorf MP-50 blew away the SSP 800 in clarity, resolution and the steering of the surround sound. Not to mention when playing Dolby Atmos & DTS-X materials from 4k UHD bluray discs off my Oppo 205, which the SSP 800 simply cannot support those formats. 

However, when RP was turned off basic sound quality of the Lyngdorf is still very good and I would say was quite on par with the SSP 800 with the Classe slightly wins over the Lyngdorf MP-50. I think the SSP 800 had more balanced sound across the boards with just the right amount of bites. Perhaps the SSP 800 had better synergy with the rest of my associated gears and speakers which consist of all Classe Delta series class AB amplifiers and all B&W 800 D3 speaker system, and therefore the SSP 800 is a better match for them? Highly possible.

Although I would never use my AV processor for stereo listening to music only sources but recently I briefly tested the Lyngdorf MP-50 stereo performance with RP turned off just for kicks. It was still decent in that regard and was quite on par with the stereo performance of the SSP 800 with the Classe slightly edges out the Lyngdorf. Again maybe it was due to better overall system synergy.

Auxinput, just wondering what power amps and speakers do you have in your dedicated home theater room? Do you also have the Oppo 205 or 105 as an AV source player?

I would never have any sort of room correction device in my dedicated two-channel listening room, which is also very well treated.

As a preface for this system description, for all wiring (power cord, interconnect, speaker cable) I use some variation of solid-core OCC copper conductors and everything has Furutech rhodium plated connectors. Even use Furutech GTX/NCF rhodium outlets.
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If I had to describe my acoustic room treatments, I would have to end it with "a partridge in a pair tree", lol.
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I have the B&W 805 D3 for left/right and HTM2 D3 for center. For surrounds, I’m still using some older Focal Cobalt speakers (one of the things on my list for future upgrade, lol). I use an Oppo 103 for transport and it does have an upgraded linear power supply. I also have an external linear power supply that powers both my DirecTV receiver and my Lumagen Radiance video processor - I wrote a thread on "Musings on Switching Power Supplies" that you can read if you want. Everything going to a Sony VW95ES projector (which was the best 1080p project that was produced, in my opinion).
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I used to run all Emotiva XPR-1 monoblocks for my front stage (including subwoofers) and XPA-1L monoblocks for surrounds - all amps fully loaded with Furutech rhodium fuses. Over the summer, I finally upgraded to Parasound JC1 for left/right and an A21 for surrounds. I have been able to remove the warm Parasound sonic signature by a careful combination of Furutech and Hi-Fi- Tuning Supreme fuses. I had originally put in all Futurech fuses, but I found that it was still too warm and my Emotiva amps actually had more resolution and clarity!! wow. Installing 1-3 Hi-Fi Tuning silver fuses increased the resolution of the Parasound amps. The B&W D3 really need an extremely high resolution amp to sing.

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I just installed a Hi-Fi Tuning into the JC1 main fuse on Wednesday and it’s still burning in, but it sounds promising. It’s at that point where the burn-in has a slightly warm/veiled sound - the edge has just a very slight bit of dull on it, but it should open up within a week. On my Focal surrounds, I found I had to pull the silver fuse and go back to all Furutech because of that Focal titanium dome tweeter breaking up and the speed of the Focal woofer just didn’t give enough body. I know this speaker is a problem, but it’s on the list someday.
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I still have Emotiva XPR-1 for center and subwoofers (two subs that have a 12" driver in a huge vented cabinet that I built - about the size of an huge SVS subwoofer and weighs about 200lbs). I have a final JC1 on the way to replace the center channel. I will then take that "free" XPR-1 and re-cap it to use as a final subwoofer amp. This is actually the best amp I have ever heard for subwoofer duty - extreme amounts of current and power and full linear power supply - 1800 watts at 4 ohm, I cannot actually use more than 60% of this amp or the subwoofer drivers will peak out!! lol.

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I tried a set of Bryston 7b3 monoblocks in my system and found that they just did not work well. The Bryston was just about the highest resolution amp, but it’s so close to Class B (an extremely low bias Class AB) that it’s just too fast with no decay - the sound was there and gone before I could really hear it and it had no body - It actually could not even keep up with my Emotiva amps in body and volume. I think the Bryston would work well with a very warm preamp and lot’s of gold-plated connectors on wiring. This helped me because the Bryston 28b was one of the amps I was considering instead of re-capping one of my XPR-1 amps.

@auxinput

Nice setup! 

Just wondering why don’t you use a Parasound Halo A31 three-channel amp to power your center and surround speakers? It’s a great amp. Runs hot though as all other Halo amps such as your JC-1 monoblocks.

In regards to Bryston amps, did you get to listen to their newest amps? They have been improved over their older amps. The newer ones sound quite a bit better actually. Nothing like the older amps.

By the way, my buddy considers selling his Classe Delta CAM 600 monoblock amps. These are class AB amps. The CAM 600 monoblock amps are Classe’s top of the line amplifier within the Delta series class AB lineup. Don’t know if you might be interested in potentially purchasing them for your front B&W 805 D3. Not sure how much he’s going to sell them for. These CAM 600 monoblocks original retail price was $14k per pair and this model along with the other Delta series products have been discontinued last year.
I can ask him about the potential resale price value if he is really going to sell them for sure. I would imagine maybe around 7k to 8k or even way less since this model was discontinued last year. He got them brand new in 2014 and has all original accessories boxes, user manual, etc. He’s using these CAM 600 monoblocks to drive his B&W 800 D3. They sounded wonderful together. They have great synergy together. B&W 800 series D3 were voiced and tuned using Classe Delta series class AB amplifiers and electronics whereas the lower end B&W series eg 700 S2 & 600 series S2 were voiced and tuned using Rotel amplifications and electronics.

I’m sure these Classe CAM 600 monoblock amps will sound fantastic on your B&W 805 D3 as they were voiced together. I’m also using these same CAM 600 monoblocks to drive my front B&W 800 D3 speakers in my dedicated home theater room and they performed wonderful together. By the way, have you ever considered getting floorstanders for your front speakers?

He’s thinking to change speakers and switch to all tube gears. Now he’s already using a Lamm tube linestage preamp to pair with his Classe CAM 600 amps. He considers trading in his B&W 800 D3 for Sonus Faber but not sure which model possibly Homage. He’s thinking to get all tube gears (preamp & power amp) to pair with his potential future Sonus Faber down the road.

Do you plan on getting a 4K UHD bluray player such as the Oppo 203/205 and upgrade to a 4K display? Cause the availability of 4K UHD discs are increasing each day. In my dedicated home theater room I have an Oppo 205 with modded linear power supply for digital audio & video circuitry. It’s used only for bluray & 4K UHD disc playbacks via HDMI outs to my new Lyngdorf MP-50 processor.

Let me know if you might be interested in possibly purchasing my buddy’s Classe Delta CAM 600 monoblock class AB amps. I will ask him and find out how much he’s willing to sell his amps for and see if he’s really serious about selling them and switching to tube amps. He hasn’t listed his amps yet.

The JC1 has a better input stage and I wanted full monoblock for my front stage (including center channel).  The A23 is fine for surround, but the center channel is the most important.
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I actually got a pair of Bryston 7b3 monoblocks after I determined the Parasound was too slow/warm.  The Bryston went way too far into the resolution/speed.  It's about the highest resolution amp I've heard, but it responds so fast that the sound is there and gone before you can really hear it.  It was not a match in my system and I did not want to "try to make it work" through stuff like gold-plated interconnect and cables.  It actually could not keep up with my Emotiva in body and volume! 

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The Classe amplifiers were on my list, but a couple things put them down further on priority.  One was silver color (though I could try to get CT models that had a black front).  The other was the fan - I did not want to deal with a fan after years of usage.  I will keep them in mind, though, and let you know if I decide to try another amp.  My Parasound JC1 are fully loaded with all silver fuses now and I think that will get me to where I want.
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My 1080p sony VW95ES projector is so good that I do not actually feel any need to upgrade to 4K at this time.  It would be a minimum $14k investment to do that, since it would be at least $10k for a decent 4K projector and another $3.5k for Lumagen video processor.  This doesn't include any expense for Oppo or other 4K bluray - and I would have to look at my processor, which does not support 4K. lol.  If I were to do this type of thing in the future, I would probably get the latest MArantz (i.e. AV8805) and then start pulling the guts out and rebuilding - putting in faster op amps on digital I/V board and upgrading all caps to something like Nichicon KZ, etc.

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I have thought about full range towers for my left/right, but I would first have to build new subs (which is an idea on the list).  My subs are just about the same exact size of a SVS PB16-Ultra (massively huge) and towers would not really work for optimum positioning in my room.  My current subs are about 28" deep and  I would have to build taller and shallower subs so that I could place the towers in front of them and still keep the proper position and room acoustics. lol. 

Regarding the 4K thing, I have had people come over and see my projector and their comment is "that's 1080p?!?! Really???".  The image actually looks so good, it's pretty much just like film.  I'm sure that a good Sony 4K projector will be better than what I have, but it is also based on source content.