I foolishly filled the house with matching furniture and never bothered to check if I could get a nice AV Receiver into the TV unit as I didn't expect to be in a position to buy a good HT system for quite some time.
But circumstances have changed and now I can afford what I want. The issue being my TV cabinet has a single open shelf below the TV which is ~1.8m wide but the opening is only ~168mm high.
I'm going to demo a set of Krix Tryptix speakers (along with seismix 3 sub) at Selby when I can make my way down as they're a perfect size for my requirements. Even though they are plastic casing, my previous experience with Krix products has been fantastic so I don't believe they'd release a rubbish product.
But I'm stumped on how to drive them. I've only been able to find 2 AV Receivers capable of fitting within my cabinet's height restriction. The Marantz NR1501 slimline unit but only 7x50w so doubt they'll be able to drive them well nor does it represent good value for money. The other was an Onkyo TX-SR578 which is a normal size receiver but only 151.5mm high (not sure if that includes the feet) while most appear to be around 170-185mm high. I don't have any experience with Onkyo but I read that they run very hot so even if I get some fans going in the cabinet to force airflow, it may not be enough?
A hybrid option could be to use an A/V Receiver for amplification of the rear stage or nothing, and use a separate power amp for the rest, thus sharing the heat distribution but finding one that suits the height requirements other than the Onkyo above has proved impossible. A Rotel RMB-1565 which is low profile and good performer (100x5 at 8 ohms or 200x5 at 4 ohms) would be ideal and have long term value if I was to upgrade/move house. But not sure what to pair it up as far as AV processing goes as all dedicated pre's appear to be high end only and most are not small enough anyway?
I did stumble upon an Emotiva something or other but it sounds like the people using them are acting as full price beta testers for the company producing them. I want plug and play so I can spend my time in the lounge enjoying the equipment, not constantly updating firmware etc.
Can anyone offer any ideas on how to proceed? I haven't mentioned price because I don't know where to start but I'm happy to spend about $3k on amplification and processing at this stage.