I have had a Beosystem 1 receiver hooked up to my non B&O TV (samsung) for over a year now. Unfortunately I don't have the funds necessary to purchase a B&O TV so I make do with what I can afford. I suspect a lot of others would like to integrate their B&O speakers into a home theater but can't afford a B&O TV. I have seen a few threads regarding people asking about non B&O receivers but none with actual experience, so here goes:
As stated, I had a Beosystem 1 hooked up to my Samsung TV, used only for audo switching. The Beosystem outputs 1080i and I wanted to take advantage of my 1080p sources. I had my PS3 for DVDs hooked up directly to the TV via HDMI and the audio out of the PS3 to the BS1. This worked fine, but resulted in several remotes, etc. I did have a Harmony remote to control it for a while but returned it as I didn't care for the format (too cumbersome as it was the 1100 series).
My speakers that I am using are 2 BL8000s front, 2 BL6000s rear, B&W ASW850 sub, and a pair of BL3s for center. I became increasingly disappointed from the sound coming from the BS1. I wasn't able to change the center channel volume, and the only adjustments I was able to make were changing the volume of the fronts and rears. Volume on the sub had to be done manually. Music really never seemed that great and I wasn't able to set any kind of special equalizer settings for this, etc.
So.....I purchased a new 2010 version Onkyo TX-NR3008. Now, this beast has everything I was looking for. Tons of inputs. HDMI 1.4a switching (I have a 63" Samsung 3D TV) for 3D pass through. After hooking it up I realized the advantages of HDMI connections. All the components talk with each other. For example, I have a Samsung 3D Blu-Ray and turning it on will turn on the TV, receiver, and change the source on the receiver. Turning the receiver to a different source will pause the Blu-Ray automatically. Turning the TV off will turn off the whole setup. The Onkyo remote can control it all as well. The Onkyo is also a learning remote and I actually taught the remote some of my Beolink commands so that I could control my light fixtures (LC1s connected to some lamps).
The Onkyo comes with a mic that you use during a setup procedure in order to use a sound processing called Audessey. Audessey corrects for speaker placement, acoustics, and size. By placing the mic in different seating arrangements it will correct for these and make sure that everyone in the room gets great sound. The difference before and after doing this was staggering. I watched some movies and it was incredible how clear everything was. Dialogue was up-front and the effects/sub were there when they needed to be and not overpowering when they shouldn't.
Audessey also supports up to 9.2 channels (there are a huge number of other sound formats supported). So, I added some rear back surrounds, and some front "height" channels. I used some non-B&O passives for these. I was limited to 5.1 with the BS1, and only to Dolby digital and DTS.
Using the Onkyo with my B&O active speakers was quite easy as I just plugged them in to the pre-outs. So far, the only downside that I have come across is that the speakers in the rear click off and on when the volume is low and there are scenes where not much info is happening in the background. For most movies that I watch, this isn't an issue.
Hopefully this will give some insight to others looking for a similar purchase!
