I believe this question has already been answered in another thread related to the RSP-1069, but I just wanted to clarify it directly for my own decision-making purposes…
Can anyone verify with certainty that the RSP-1069 applies bass management (crossover, distance, and level) settings to the incoming PCM via the HDMI inputs (for example, from a blu-ray player)? I cannot find this stated directly in the manual, but I believe it to be a very important consideration. (The reason I question it is because there are no references to PCM/HDMI settings in the Advanced Speaker Setup or Subwoofer Setup menus.) If this is true, this would be a huge advantage over the multi-channel analog inputs, which generally DO NOT provide this ability. Assuming the player has high-quality DACs, it also settles the debate over whether it is worth getting a processor that handles the new codecs internally (via HDMI 1.3).
If this IS the case, then the player itself does not need to provide bass management functionality (which many don't), just the ability to decode each of the codec types and send the resulting PCM to the RSP-1069. The player would also need to be configured to set all speakers to ‘Large’ to avoid any unneccessary duplication of the crossover. (This gives hope to those of us who have the early players such as the Sony BDP-S1 that do not provide distance or level settings.)
The more I learn about the RSP-1069, as well as the cabilities of HDMI 1.1, the more I think the Rotel solution is the right one (disregarding the video scaler, which I have no use for). I am really leaning toward replacing my RSP-1068 with the newer unit, based on this and other updates (such as the new DACs and TI DSP engine).
Can anyone verify with certainty that the RSP-1069 applies bass management (crossover, distance, and level) settings to the incoming PCM via the HDMI inputs (for example, from a blu-ray player)? I cannot find this stated directly in the manual, but I believe it to be a very important consideration. (The reason I question it is because there are no references to PCM/HDMI settings in the Advanced Speaker Setup or Subwoofer Setup menus.) If this is true, this would be a huge advantage over the multi-channel analog inputs, which generally DO NOT provide this ability. Assuming the player has high-quality DACs, it also settles the debate over whether it is worth getting a processor that handles the new codecs internally (via HDMI 1.3).
If this IS the case, then the player itself does not need to provide bass management functionality (which many don't), just the ability to decode each of the codec types and send the resulting PCM to the RSP-1069. The player would also need to be configured to set all speakers to ‘Large’ to avoid any unneccessary duplication of the crossover. (This gives hope to those of us who have the early players such as the Sony BDP-S1 that do not provide distance or level settings.)
The more I learn about the RSP-1069, as well as the cabilities of HDMI 1.1, the more I think the Rotel solution is the right one (disregarding the video scaler, which I have no use for). I am really leaning toward replacing my RSP-1068 with the newer unit, based on this and other updates (such as the new DACs and TI DSP engine).
The PCM HDMI signal is handled just like the multiinput analog connection. There is one annoyance when using a PCM signal, however, the.1 channel is not always active thus my PV1's go on standby, and switch on in the middle of when they are needed. When using PCM I have to set them to "on" 
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