For a long time I have been looking for a system to combine my two-channel listening (streaming, CD, vinyl) with multi-channel film/TV watching. Ideally, the product would come from Naim as I have used their amps, since the 1980s. So far, Naim has offered nothing in this area, to the best of my knowledge.
I don’t need the full 5.1, 7.2, 11.2 etc. experience. 3.1 (L/R, centre, single sub) will be fine. I don’t want to use two-stage amplification which is all that my Naim dealer can recommend - using the Naim amp with a multi-channel receiver using pre-out connections. Too many boxes.
Until recently I never saw a product that met my needs, but now I see the Bluesound Powernode N331 does almost exactly what I need with two exceptions - no phono input and I don’t know how the SQ would stack up against Naim. I hear it’s pretty good though. You can expand to 5.1 using wireless connectivity for the rear channels if you wish.
Do you think Naim would ever address this market? Surely I’m not the only potential customer? Something similar to an updated Uniti Star/Nova with HDMI eARC and centre channel support would make me very happy.