I've read a bunch of previous threads on CF on this topic, but am still struggling to find a solution to my question, hence I thought I'd ask if anyone here has done anything similar.
I'm specifying a configuration for a
catamaran (Outremer) that I have under construction, and I'm not getting very far to the complete answer to my requirements with the
electronics firm (Pochon) I'm dealing with thus far in that they're sticking resolutely to a simple BOSE based
single special speaker type config + a car hifi w/ multiple speakers playing stereo.
My aim is a 5.1 dolby digital system in the
saloon for movies, plus 4 speaker stereo in the
cockpit for
music.
I will have a Mac as my source for all
music and movies - so as to avoid having the disks on board, my library is already scanned onto a large HD. I have a Samsung LED
monitor specified that is slim and
low power consumption, and slides out of a cabinet so it is hidden away under sail. I can specify a variety of speakers, but would probably like to use B&W custom speakers inside the
saloon (since they are designed for high humidity environments already) and
marine speakers outside. Similarly I can specify 2 12V/24V car/marine amplifiers a 5 channel to do the saloon and a 4 channel to handle music played outside in the
cockpit.
The bit I'm missing is a Dolby digital/DTS processor to take a HDMI or an optical or a co-ax digital signal to process the surround sound.
I don't really have the space to fit a regular home audio receiver and don't need all the bells and whistles that come with one either.
I have to imagine there might be a car audio product that might do something like this, but I haven't found one. There seem to be in dash
dvd players but they don't seem to offer an external digital input as far as I can tell. Obviously a 12V based solution would be better as I can then run the audio side both in the saloon and the cockpit without running the
inverter. I'd consider a simple small form factor amp/processor in a box as the driver if that's a good fit, but it would need to
work on 220V if its not 12V/24V as the
boat is specified to be 24V/220V.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide!