Last night I got an Optical->RCA converter from Amazon. I hooked this up to my Dayton Audio KABD-4100 which has two full range speakers and a passive subwoofer. Both of these have EQs programmed in that I tuned for music.
I watched Pacific Rim: The Black and it sounded great! This is unwatchable on my normal sound bar due to all the Kaiju/animal screaming, the soaring music, and the quiet dialog.
The only downside is a lack of a volume remote. Maybe I’ll give the Arylic 2.1 a go.
So far, so good. Maybe I don’t need a surround sound amp after all.
SB