I'm setting up a simple stereo and subwoofer system with active drive and DSP management for bass/mids, tweeters and a mono cardioid subwoofer, a configuration that needs 6 amplifier channels...
Left and right bass/mids - 2 channels
Left and right tweeters - 2 channels
Front and rear bass drivers in mono subwoofer - 2 channels - this is because the rear loudspeaker is fed with a delay to shape the bass sound field.
This is not going to be some ultra-HiFi setup, with expensive components at every stage of the playback chain, so the native amplifier performance of my Sony STR-DN840 multi-channel AV receiver will do for now: if, that is, I can persuade it that it is a simple 6-inputs, 6-outputs, no processing power amplifier and that is what I've come here to ask for advice about.
The manual is confusing, with what seem inappropriate names for many of the control functions. What I need to do is inject conditioned audio signals into the bank of 6 RCA inputs and route each of them directly to one of the power amplifier channels with no alteration by any of the functionality of the receiver - the receiver's sound field processing needs to be totally disengaged. I am aware of the function called analog direct but the manual mentions it only in connection with stereo listening.
So my question is - can this receiver be used as a simple 6-channel power amplifier, and if it can, how?
Advice would be very welcome - I think I'm getting too old at 75 to handle technical manuals - or perhaps my lifelong aversion to reading them at all has finally come home to roost.