Re: Help! Can Receivers Do This little function????
Most receivers have built in EQ's - Rock, Pop, Jazz, etc. your easiest solution would to find one you like for music and one you like for movies and just flip between them. However, if that doesn't work then you are probably talking some money.
Here is what I do, am planning on doing and how I would see doing it the way you want to do it.
I have a media PC (basic Intel i5-ivy bridge, 8 GB RAM, SSD HD, built in graphics - Intel HD4000).
The Media PC has a blu-Ray drive that I use for music CD's, DVD's and Blu-rays.
I also have 2 HDHomeRun TV tuners - I dropped cable and have been saving $100 a month and other than sports on ESPN I see no need for cable).
For Audio I have an Echo AudioFire 12. It's a professional grade 12-channel audio device mostly used for mixing and recording but works great for what I need it for and in this line of equipment it is cheap (but still not cheap for consumer grade equipment). About $500. It connects via firewire from the media PC. I like FW over USB for audio due to less CPU overhead.
The Media PC run JRiver Media Center 17.
JRiver MC 17 is the key. JRiver has one generic EQ with presets like mentioned above AND 2 sets of Parametric EQ's (each able to EQ each speaker independently). I would set one up for how I want my music to sound and the other for how I want my movies to sound. Then just flip between the two. There isn't a real easy why to tell JRiver to stop one EQ and start the other (have to go through a couple menus, not hard, just more complex than a push button).
This would give you all the control you could ever want, but it comes at a price (media PC, echo audiofire and JRiver software). If you have an old PC/laptop for the media part laying around that would help a lot. Echo makes 2, 4, 8 and 12-port units. The 12-port is the only one that supports 192/24 so it has the best DAC's in it and if you want to go beyond 7.1 you will need more than 8-channels anyway. Also if you want to go insane you and daisy-chain the echo 12's for up to 24-channels.
I'm sure there are also other way to skin this cat. However, I think I like my solution (though I've only been doing this for 9 months). At this point my receiver is only used as a means to remotely turn on my amp (Emotive MPS-2 = 7 x 200 @8ohms; thought I only have 5 channels used). If I could get a device to attach to my PC that would send a trigger to turn on the amp, I wouldn't need the receiver at all.
Also what I like about the JRiver software is it is actively maintained!!! It's also cheap at about $50. They also have MC 18 out in beta which allows for EQing up to 16 channels, not just 8 like in MC 17. Therefore, for the $21 upgrade cost from MC17 to 18, you get a tone of value. If you have a 5.1 receiver now (like I do/did) you have to dump it to get to 7.1, then dump that to go to 9.2 or 11.3 or whatever. Where with JRiver it's just a software change. I'll take $21 charge vs. a $800+ charge any day. Sweet!!
Media PC: Intel i7-4770K, Asus Maximus VI Hero, 16GB RAM, 250G Samsung 840 EVO, XFX HD7870 GPU
Software: JRiver MC 20.0.79, AnyDVD HD 7.5.8.0
Audio Processor: Lynx AES16e (FW: 13.1) w/ Aurora 16-VT (FW: 28)
Amp: Emotiva MPS-2
Speakers: Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers w/RAAL, Horizon w/RAAL and Sierra-2's as SL/SR
Sub: Elemental Designs A7s-650
TV tuner: HD HomeRun DUEL (2)