Does anyone here use the SA30 as basically an AVR?
I’m hoping to throw out the Onkyo AVR and run the devices hdmi straight to the TV. Then optical TV to SA30.
If they have have separate audio that’ll go to the SA30.
Is anyone else doing this and does it work OK?
The SA30 isn’t really an audio/video receiver because it lacks any video input or output. However you can connect your TV through HDMI to the SA30. Only audio will be passed to the SA30. I can confirm this setup works.
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You might struggle to find one but it’s somewhat of a bargain and no slouch from a music perspective by all accounts. Their are many fans over at avforums.co.uk
Edit: sorry don’t know how price in Australia compares!
Well, i can actually say from perspective of user, who wanted to use SA30 this way.
First of all, yes - HDMI eARC work quite well in SA30, although not without issues (depending on the TV, there might be some issues with CEC, so auto power-up etc.).
BUT soon you’ll find out it’s not AVR and you will start missing things like Atmos support.
Maybe it sounds stupid, but at the moment i’m actually not using SA30 for TV sound, instead using decent speakers built in the TV. I have LG G1. Considering the form of this TV, they made amazing job with speakers.
Yes, it’s nowhere near SQ of SA30+good speakers (especially low end, which TV is lacking a bit), but… Those small things in the TV can even produce something you might call a bit of surround sound with Atmos soundtracks. Something, that SA30 can not. So while it’s lacking a lot in pure SQ, in case of Atmos tracks i actually prefer TV speakers.
So long story short - at least at the moment i’m not using SA30 for TV sound. As i don’t want to replace it with AVR for many different reasons, now considering some good soundbar for TV only, so that SA30 only serves for stereo.
Second BUT 
if you’re not looking for any “immersive” audio from your TV, or lacking sources that would support it (i.e. watching TV only), SA30 will work very good and really improve things for you. Well, and it also depends very much on TV you have
If your Onkyo has pre-outs for front channels, why not use the SA30 in processor mode to drive the fronts in surround? Best of both worlds for stereo and surround imho.
But maybe you’re already doing this and still want to lose the Onkyo.
Definitely something I’ve thought of… when I get all pieces I think I’ll play around with this.