How good of an AV Receiver does my setup "need"?

With regards to the Pioneer, I can get the LX55 for a good price.  But again, too much?

Can't comment on which receiver as I know neither of the ones you mentioned, but if you are going to use your system to watch/listen to films, I strongly suggest you consider getting a centre speaker. If you invest in a multi-channel setup to watch films, a dedicated centre channel is a must imo, in addition to front/rear/sub.

I figured I'd go with 4.1 and see then if I'd the need a centre.  A big reason is because I have no idea what centre speaker would match my AVI's, so I just want to get the Receiver "dilemma" sorted first.

Sure, but when you do get the receiver you like, borrow a decent centre and see if it makes a difference. With the sound properly set up, using Audyssey or similar room acoustics correction system, likely to come in the box with your receiver, you should be able to hear the difference immediately - the voices/dialogue will be much clearer and focused than when coming from the fronts.

Happy hunting.

As long as you can accommodate it, your best bet for a centre will be another ADM9T, this will keep the cohesion across the front. You've not indicated budget, but given the quality of your speakers I would consider a pre/pro with a standard 2 channel power amplifier for your rears. Does your blu ray player have multi channel outs? If so you could get a pre/pro second hand that doesn't decode HD audio, you would get a high quality preamp at a good price.

Thanks for the reply.  

My Blu-Ray player can do that.  Are there any pre/pro amps you'd recommend?

Oh, and ideally I'd like to spend up to £500.  

There is a useful list on this current thread: http://www.whathifi.com/forum/av-receivers/av-receiver-vs-processor#comm...

I was fortunate enough to pick up a onkyo pr-sc886 for £500. I would recommend keeping an eye out on eBay and the obvious forums for likely candidates and then doing a bit of googling to see if it is suitable for your needs. Good luck

Thanks.

One last question... What kind of power amp should I be looking for for those speakers?  Again, any suggestions?

It's going to depend on budget of course and I haven't heard either of the AVI speakers. You're going to want to keep it as tonally consistent as possible so (based on what I've read of them) you're going to want something fairly neutral and dynamic, in order to try and match the internal amplification of your actives. Others are probably going to be better at specific recommendations than me. Again, searching around for used power amps will find you a suitable amp at a good price sooner or later.

I've just picked up a brand new Myryad MXD4000 Pre/Pro for £550.  Surely that's a crazy price?

I've been reading the online manual of the MXD4000 http://www.armourhe.co.uk/downloads/myryad/manuals/MX_Series/0ST0012480%20B%20MXD4000%20Preamplifier%20Processor%20OM.pdf 
I'm struggling to get my head around the best way to connect my system...

I'm going to upgrade my blu-ray player to one which also plays SACDs.  I'm thinking about the CA 651BD or 751BD.  Does the quality of the player matter when I have this pre/pro amp?

In order to utilise the latest HD audio, I'll be connecting the player via the 7.1 analogue outputs to the 7.1 analogue inputs of the Myryad.  But won't I be bypassing the work the Myryad should do?  Am I using this pre/pro at all?

I'm really trying to get my head around it all.  Some help would be much appreciated.

Congratulations  Given the RRP that sounds like a fantastic price! Are you able to say where you got it from?

As you say, it doesn't decode the latest audio codecs, and this will have to be done in the player. I assume you would be able to send the decoded audio via hdmi to the pre/pro (and therefore use the pre/pro's DAC) or send it via multichannel audio out, and use the BDP's DAC. It's a matter of debate whether the decoding would  bedone  better by a better BDP. Obviously if you use the BDP's DAC it will matter what quality the BDP is. Also consider the Oppo 93 and 95, and the Denon and Marantz are highly rated by WHF. Yamaha and Onkyo offer further alternatives and there is a lengthy Pioneer thread which considers their upcoming universal player.

Even if you are using the multichannel outs, the pre/pro will still be doing things like room eq, as well as acting as a preamp. It also, of course, allows you to connect additional sources to it. It looks to me like you have a high quality multi-channel preamp for a very good price

When does it arrive? Have you ordered your rears also? Have you looked further into a power amp for rears?

Thanks for the reply.

I  saw the Myryad on Ebay being sold by the Peter Tyson outlet.  It was on there for £600.  There were 2 available, one had gone, and since they had a "best offer" option, I offered £550 and they accepted.  I even rang them to ask why on Earth they were selling this preamp at such a low price.  The guy on the phone said "I don't think we'd sell something like that at such a low price, so maybe you bought a different item".  Then he asked around and told me the manufacturer needed to get rid of stock and sold some to PT for a low price.  So, they started to resell them for £800, then dropped the price to £600.  

Anyway, I'm very happy with this deal!

Okay, according to the manual:

"Note: the audio signal carried on the HDMI cable will be sent to the HDMI output, but is not linked into the MXD4000 for processing. A separate “SPDIF” digital audio input must be used (optical or coaxial)."

It seem the BDP can send the signal it decoded via HDMI and the preamp just passes this signal to the HDMI out?  So, I'm guessing the preamp's DAC doesn't get used here?  Will the device even act as a preamp here (applying gain if I understand its function correctly)?  Would it be better to use the analogue connections?

I'll keep my options open for the BDP and do some research.  Thanks for the suggestions.

The Myryad should arrive Monday or Tuesday.  As all my equipment is very recent (TV, AVI speakers), I'm still enjoying it and I can be patient when it comes to completing my setup.  I will order the Neutron V's soonish, as well as the sub.  With regards to the power amp for the rears, I'm hoping to find a used Myryad MA240, but may settle for the 120 for now since I've been able to find one. 

I'm guessing I'll need some pretty decent cables for all this... I am thinking of getting one Myryad 'The Sirius' interconnect for the preamp to either the power amp or ADM9T's for now. Not really sure about the rest..

Just a quick question about connections...

I'd connect the 7.1 outputs of the premp to the master adm speaker, slave adm speaker, subwoofer, and power amp.  When it comes to connecting the preamp to the master speaker, I'd be using the analogue inputs of the speaker, so I'm essentially connecting a preamp to another preamp.  Is this okay?  Would this work?