Hi guys,
Currently I'm running a 15 year old Sony TV with two Behringer Truth 2031's over RCA. I've added a Denon DCD-810 to that mix with a simple RCA switch to either listen to CD's over the speakers or my TV. The setup is somewhat clunky, I have to power on each speaker manually and walk over to the RCA switch to choose between TV or CD's. Since I've already had the speakers and the TV this was a very cheap way to go and I don't mind the extra steps. I am bound by CD players with variable outputs because of this, hence the 35 year old CD player which has it's disadvantages.
Now being realistic my TV is getting old, it's only 40 inches and I want it replaced in the coming years. Looking at modern TV's they don't seem to have RCA out for audio, just optical and HDMI as options. My plan was to get a nice second hand receiver and a nice pair of second-hand stereo speakers.
Doing a bit of reading HDMI for audio seems to be the superior option. My big question is, in what way is an older receiver future proof for all the different technologies? I would probably need a receiver that is 4k capable and whatever protocols I might need. Will optical out really give me a big disadvantage over HDMI? And if I would use HDMI on the receiver what technologies would it have to support?
Sorry for the long story!
Something like a Denon DRA900H might work for you. It has HDMI ARC, 4 HDMI inputs, RCA inputs, and others. If you can get a second hand DRA800H I'm sure that'll be fine for you too.