Need HT pre/pro advice

madmax

A friend has been asking who makes decent preamp/processors to use for HT with seperate amps. I've been away from that for quite awhile. Can I get some suggestions? Fairly recent stuff, he may even buy new.
Thanks!
madmax

cstmar01

Well there are some great choices but depends on how much $$ he is going to drop.

Some to give you an idea.

Anthem D2V
Anthem D2
Anthem AVM-50V
Halcro SSP200
Integra DHC-80.2
Integra DHC-40.2
Classe CT-SSP
Classe SSP-800
Theta Casablanca III
Krell S-1000

All range in price from the $$$ to more budget friendly (for a pre/pro) like the Integra stuff.

Also does he care about 3D support, HDMI, SQ, video processing, room correction software used, balanced vs unbalanced inputs, how many HDMI supports, etc etc can all come into play.

Sherardp

To be honest a good receiver will have more bells and whistles on it than a pre/pro. Pre/pros take some while to catch up especially since 3D,HDMI, and networking are all here in one. I would opt for a good receiver with preouts and use that instead, which would give him everything out there. Integra would be an excellent choice as mentioned, however I'm not sure they have all the bells and whistles on them. If it's for HT, I would suggest an Elite, or something else should he not like Pioneer and then add an amp if needed.

rdb2001

I just want to add the Marantz AV7005. It was just released and is 3-d ready and there are people saying they got theirs from onecall for 1299, which is a couple hundred below amazon price. It's getting good reviews and probably with be my next prepro. Onkyo 5508 is supposed to be a nice pre/pro and will be similiar to the integras.

BlueFox

Cary Cinema 11a

http://www.caryaudio.com/products/cinema/cinema11a.html

dorokusai

All the suggestions are worthless without a price range. Might as well suggest something in the 20k range for that matter. At least he has enough sense to think pre-pro and not use an AVR as one.

madmax

I think his range is probably $1K to $8K. Its for his wife... She wants an audiophile system but the movie thing keeps coming into the picture. Oh yeah, and he wants to feed it to his 3D tv.

Sherardp

dorokusai wrote: »

All the suggestions are worthless without a price range. Might as well suggest something in the 20k range for that matter. At least he has enough sense to think pre-pro and not use an AVR as one.

I always find this comment odd. I know many people using an AVR as a pre/pro with excellent results.

dorokusai

He's stated he already has amplifiers....so why waste it on an AVR? Get a dedicated pre/pro like you he should anyways like the aforementioned Anthem. 99% of the ppl doing that AVR thing Sherardp is because they found out they can't run the speakers they own, or eventually owned so they bought outboard amplifiers. The magic of pre-outs turns everyone into an amplifier afficianado.

I'm sure they do have excellent results, not in any way saying they aren't....it's kind of a duh situation but it's always sounded as silly to me as your remark. It's a band-aid for a real setup to me and always will be. I use a bad **** AVR for my HT even tho' I've had a ton of gear to say otherwise because I sell it as well. I'll take a mucho solid AVR over seperates anyday. As stated many times by me....HT is NOT hard to do....it's the easiest part of hi-fi out there.

rdb2001

Thats a pretty broad price range. If I had that type of coin, the anthem's or the classe ssp would be on my shortlist. I dont think many of the above list are 3-D ready. I am not for sure, but besides onkyo/integra and marantz, I dont really think there are many manufacturers out there that have a 3-d ready processor yet. That will be the one feature that will limit to what he has to choose from. Like it was mentioned earlier, they are normally behind the 8-ball on technology.

ben62670

I ran an HK AVR as a pre for a while. I then upgraded to the Outlaw 990. The outlaw was a hair with details, but the HK sounded sweeter.
Ben

jinjuku

Sherardp wrote: »

I always find this comment odd. I know many people using an AVR as a pre/pro with excellent results.

Agree with you there. Using the HK AV3600 currently as a pre-pro and it does a great job. Only wish it had two HDMI outs (so I am selling it).

The move to a pre-pro would be predicated on the fact that I would be running on a fully balanced setup.

madmax

HD operation through HDMI seems very important to him.

reeltrouble1

dorokusai wrote: »

He's stated he already has amplifiers....so why waste it on an AVR? Get a dedicated pre/pro like you he should anyways like the aforementioned Anthem. 99% of the ppl doing that AVR thing Sherardp is because they found out they can't run the speakers they own, or eventually owned so they bought outboard amplifiers. The magic of pre-outs turns everyone into an amplifier afficianado.

Yes. The amplifiers in the usual suspects of AVR are not up to the task as people move along the hobby, follows the rest of the electronic parts and circuit is minimul.

Chuck is there an existing 2-channel pre? Any Bypass? Beyond getting a pre/pro that's up the chain which I agree with, might consider something along that line for the audiophile in the lady. If it just needs to stay simple as mentioned Anthem maybe NAD.

RT1

madmax

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

Chuck is there an existing 2-channel pre? Any Bypass? Beyond getting a pre/pro that's up the chain which I agree with, might consider something along that line for the audiophile in the lady. If it just needs to stay simple as mentioned Anthem maybe NAD.

RT1

I gave him the bypass scheme and although he understood the premise he thought it was a little too much stuff plugged together. I also suggested he keep the systems seperate and he didn't bite on that at all.

reeltrouble1

then I would let him get a quality pre/pro as mentioned and live life long and happy.

RT1

madmax

So now the problem (as someone mentioned above) is that I see no pre-pro that offers the newest HDMI for 3D.

orrb_05

madmax wrote: »

So now the problem (as someone mentioned above) is that I see no pre-pro that offers the newest HDMI for 3D.

Just wait for the Oppo BDP-93 - It has two HDMI outs, one for 3D-out to the HDTV and one for audio-out to the pre/pro or AVR.

polkfarmboy

I would go for a marantz 7005 pre pro

http://www.amazon.com/Marantz-AV7005-Audio-Video-Pre-Processor/dp/B003R7KMS8/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1289968787&sr=1-10

Its good for HT has HDMI 1.4 and cost $1500 ....For HT why pay more? He could use what funds that are left to concentrate on the important stuff ....Like 2 ch

For HT sure you could go blow another $5500 for the hdmi 1.3 krell 1200 used for $7000 .HT is HT and its always gona sound awesome when bit streaming true hd

EndersShadow

CivicDude wrote: »

I'm on the hunt for some in ear headphones if anyone has any good leads on some inexpensive, but good quality products. Let me know!

reported

TECHNOKID

EndersShadow wrote: »

reported

You shouldn't quote the offender as mods will delete the offender's post and if your post is not deleted the offender's link remains on the site

On another note, I hope you are regaining health wise?

EndersShadow

TECHNOKID wrote: »

You shouldn't quote the offender as mods will delete the offender's post and if your post is not deleted the offender's link remains on the site

On another note, I hope you are regaining health wise?

Didnt think about that, will remember next time.

Off topic for a sec, but health is doing much better. If I have another issue in the near future they will be taking a couple small pieces out of me (dont want to get into too much detail here).

Otherwise on some roids for a bit, on iron to get my hemigloben levels back up, and went from bi-weekly to weekly shots of my other med.....

And we got in the Hospital bill....43k before insurance (and that doesnt include the Dr's and other crap I will get in as well) :eek:. Thank god for good insurance

Also thanks to all the forum members helping keep me entertained for that week or so!