Sierra Tower RAAL, Oppo BDP-103, and LFE channel redirection...?

I'm not entirely sure if this is the best place for these questions, so if not the moderators can relocate please. :)

I am considering purchasing the following for a simple, small living room setup:

Sierra Tower RAALS x 2
Emotiva XPA-2
Oppo BDP-103

My questions are concerning the LFE channel. Can the Oppo redirect the LFE channel
to the 2.0 speakers? Also, will the relative volume still be "+10 db" compared to the main
channels? And finally, will this LFE channel possibly damage the Sierra Towers at "normal" listening levels? Do the towers have some sort of high pass filter in their internal crossover to protect from over excursion?

I'm neither an audio "pro" or "dummy" (if this helps). Thanks all!

(I've done some searching on these questions, but cannot find a very clear answer. I've looked in the Oppo manual, but could not find an answer. I was hoping someone here would have this player. Thanks!)

... Side question: Would you all buy the Emotiva XPA-2 with 500 watts 4ohm, or the Emotiva XPA-200 with 240 watts 4 ohm? If cost is no object, which amp would you get, and why? Thanks!

... man, this is getting discouraging. I've read reports of BDP-103 "hissing" due to volume control using digital compression, and Oppo reporting "not meant to be used as a preamp". The BDP-105 is a thousand dollars more.

Okay, bottom line: I want the RAAL towers, and I want good clean power for them. I want 2.1 home theater capability. I don't care about room correction software. I just want clean input to amp, clean power out of amp, and correct processing of signal going to my system (Dolby, DTS, etc).

Does anyone here know what to do? Someone on another thread mentioned speaker level / line level adapters. Really?? I want a very very low noise floor to the RAALs. Good DACs, good power, etc.

Most likely will not be using subwoofers, at least anytime soon. Sorry guys, any advice you can give is much appreciated.

Look at the miniDSP products.

https://www.minidsp.com/

Thanks Curtis! Checking out the site now.

Okay, so now I'm considering: My PS3 -> MiniDSP NanoAVR HDA -> Emotiva XPA-2 -> Sierra Tower RAALs.

I noticed that the MiniDSP NanoAVR only accepts PCM. Does this mean that I can avoid the pesky dynamic range compression that usually occurs when Dolby is downmixed to 2 channel??? If so... that would be awesome!!! (Trying not to get hopes up.) :)

Thank you Curtis!! (still trying not to get hopes up)

Edit: Additionally, the NanoAVR also appears to have the ability to EQ the channels in any way I see fit. Possibly lower the output level of the LFE channel to match the others? Excellent. If this works like I'm hoping, I'm just blown away.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j0nnyfive

I noticed that the MiniDSP NanoAVR only accepts PCM. Does this mean that I can avoid the pesky dynamic range compression that usually occurs when Dolby is downmixed to 2 channel??? If so... that would be awesome!!! (Trying not to get hopes up.) :)

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I don't have an answer to that one.

I have emailed MiniDSP and will report back what I find out.

MiniDSP emailed me back and said that you could indeed mix all channels into a stereo pair. This doesn't directly answer my question, but I have a strong suspicion that Dolby compression would not be used because this particular AVR doesn't have a Dolby decoder anyway.

My understanding of Dolby downmixing is that most of the time:

Center channel is mixed evenly into L and R channels at -3db.
All L and R surrounds are mixed into the respective side also at -3db.
The LFE track can be mixed evenly into both L and R speakers, attenuated, and even
high passed.

Meaning: All channels, full dynamic range, and LFE track within speakers' range can
all be combined into a stereo pair of towers, powered by Emotiva amp at affordable price. Sweet. :)

I'm hoping there isn't a catch somewhere. I think this is the path I will pursue.