What's the deal with HT receiver gain levels?

DBPHD: The whole point of merging HT & Stereo system is to take advantage of the superior amplification provided by the $6500 integrated amp and the $8000 speakers for L/R duties.

It doesn't seem to be working out so I've decided to "un-merge" the whole thing and run functions separately.

Thanks for your interest and good suggestions.

P.S. I will try connecting my video monitor directly from the HDMI-1 of the Oppo and see what happens (a recent post of mine indicates there may be problems doing this, however).

Yeah, Dweller, I really don't understand your setup nor the rationale for your equipment, so I can't offer cogent suggestions. When I first replied I imagined you had stereo source to stereo preamp that you wanted to merge with 7.1 Oppo 105 and amps. But it turns out you have an integrated amp of some number of channels, perhaps two, and an AVR. I have no idea how many or what type of sources you have. Setting unity gain as I outlined in my first post would still seem to work, assuming the front LR stereo from the 105 goes to the integrated amp and the surrounds and SW go to analog bypass of the AVR. Why there would be a problem taking HDMI-1 to your TV or monitor, assuming HDMI input is available, is another mystery I don't want to explore. Good luck.

db

No problemo...

By the way, Dweller, if you are using your AVR as a surround amp, I'd suggest replacing it with a multichannel amp. A used amp from a reliable seller on Audiogon might be a good bet. The market for your AVR might be soft though. I assume the preamp section of your integrated amp has selectable inputs, and can thus handle multiple sources, e.g., a phono stage.