Portable receiver?

Nitrowing

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Hello all, I'm a long time lurker - when in need of a new bit of kit, I usually search it on here!

This time I'm stumped. I'm looking for an AV reciever to travel with.
Laptop has no digital sound output just HDMI that I'd like to put through a receiver to a portable HD projector (possibly the ViewSonic M2e).
I have looked at slimline amps but they're similar in weight to normal amps!

Has anyone any ideas?
Ideally, it would be at least 4 channel and weigh less than 5kg
I'll be connecting to a set of 5 LG LHS-25SCS

Thanks
 
I've never seen a portable receiver as such.

One off the wall option could be a Soundblaster X7 with amp(s) for the extra channels.

This would connect to the laptop via USB so as long as you can split the audio to an external sound card and the video to the projector it could work.

Apparently has a 50W+50W class D amp integrated (though this needs a bigger PSU for full power)

You could then pick up one or two small class D amps for the other channels.

Not as neat as a 'reciever' but might be something you can make work.
 
Thank you for the Creative suggestion, it's certainly an option!

I did see this at Curries
StarTec 7.1
but there's no mention of power.
I suppose it might be worth a try as I think they are quite flexible with returns.
This set up is for hotel rooms so 'crushing bass' is very low on the list of priorities - I've had filthy looks in the past listening to my Bose Soundlink II
 
I did see this at Curries
StarTec 7.1
but there's no mention of power.

That looks like a surround decoder and it states support for Widows XP and Vista!!! so may be old stock. At that price, likely it only does the basic formats as licences for Dolby are expensive. There is no amp included so you need to take each channel out to an amp which you can pick up on amazon etc for ~£50 for two channel.

I worked abroad for a year, living in a hotel....

If it's just you, I'd seriously consider a decent set of headphones and a modest exteral sound card for your laptop. Soundblaster G5/G6, Sennheiser GSX 1000 / GSX 1200 though looks like these have got a bit more expensive used. They were £50-70 for a while. Virtual surround through headphones is likely better than you'll achieve with a number of suboptimally placed speakers and limited amplification.

Of course there are more of you, thats not going to work...

Many years ago something like this Yamaha would have worked, all the amps were built into the control unit so you could just not pack the sub. All you needed was an external sound card with optical. Sadly my unit died after may happy hours of 5.1 gaming and was recycled and they are now 20 years old.... nothing on Ebay.

If on a budget, there is always this and some amps CEX UK

Whichever way, I think a PC based system is likely to the most practical option.
 
Small amp would be t amp but that is only two channel. About the size of couple cigarette boxes
 
I really don't like headphones. I've spent hundreds on them and they end up chucked in a drawer or given away (except the Bose ones that just didn't work one day).

I've looked further in to that StarTec and noticed a few people complain about W10 compatibility so I'm going to try INVAFOCO - there's no Dolby and it's not an issue as this is to replace a 10kg receiver, not feed one.

Budget? I don't mind spending £300 if it's light and going to work. Weight is the no.1 priority.
 
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A slightly left field suggestion might be an external 5/7 channel pc sound card & some active speakers. You could use some software like jriver to handle decoding & set delays, levels, eq etc. My very first home cinema setup was built around something similar.

(If you want to use your existing speakers you could look at using a compact multichannel car amplifier with suitable power supply.).
 
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The sub woofer in the LG LHS-25SCS set is passive, so will needs its own amplifier.

The simple solution to a portable surround system is a sound bar with HDMI input and passthrough HDMI output (e.g. LG SN7CY, which weighs 3.74 kg).
 
My current plan is the Invafoco external sound card to feed 2 pairs of portable speakers and use my Bose Soundlink II as the sub.
4.1
Thank you for your help!
 

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