13 Cables ... A Horror Story

As some may now I got my start as an audiphile working in motion picture sound.  Manufacturing processors and installing turn-key racks.  AMC was among our biggest customers. I wish I could say I had the background Floyd Toole and others have in measuring speakers, acoustics and auditoriums then, but my work was all done with the electronics.

As part of this I got very comfortable with 4' to 6' tall racks of audio gear and dozens of cables that needed connecting, and big beautiful meters on Yamaha amplifiers.  Each amplifier required 5 cables, and a 5 channel theater had a minimum of 3 amplifiers. 70 mm film had a separate stereo bass track if memory serves as well, so 5 different balanced signal wires would feed magnetic head preamps, then noise companders (i.e., Dolby A) followed by equalizers and finally the output buffer. The point is, I got far too comfortable with dozens of cables polluting the space behind the equipment and too often I find myself wondering if I really need this many parts to my stereo and home theater setup. 

My current setup uses a Luxman integrated amp for music and an Anthem AVM 50 for the home theater portion.  Supporting the AVM 50 is a miniDSP for the center and subwoofer as well as three separate Class D monoblock amplifiers and I'm ready to pick a direction.

Do I get a pure processor and keep the overall hookups the same, or do I get a receiver like an MRX 720 and eliminate about a dozen cables in the exchange?  That's where 13 cables comes from.  If I eliminate the monoblock amps, the DSP (thanks to built in room correction) I get rid of 10 cables in my setup, and reduce five pieces of equipment to 1.