B&K reference 50

danger boy

I made the trip across town today.. since it is Labor day.. and i was bored.

I really want to upgrade my 5 yr old Marantz receiver with something new and better. I've outgrown it.

I was looking at the Denon 3805 at Magnolia today. It's a beaut, no doubt.

Then it happen. Jack the sales guy just HAD to show me the B&K Reference 50 preamp. WOW! Simple looking front face. turn the thing around back, and it's a tiger. It has balance outputs.... not that i have any amps that use blanced outputs anyways.

I so want that B&K Reference 50 now. I can't stop thinking about it.

Any one here have any experience with it?

FYI, B&K dropped the price a whopping $1,000 from last year on the Ref 50. Man oh man.. is it so tempting to finally go separates.

Right now Magnolia is knocking off $150 from the already low price of $1,999

UGH! why are they tempting me like that? Only thing stopping me is a thing called money. :eek:

sorry i couldn't find a pic of the front.. you'll have to settle for a pic of it's **** end.

VR3

Frontal pics??

polkatese

DB,
I have mine for the past 1.4 years now, and I have to say, I've been very satisfied. With the price cut, I don't think you can have any better value preamp. The balanced is nice, but you won't missed anything with the regular analog connection. Fire away with questions that you may have, Tour2ma is the other polkies who owns one, although I haven't seen him around here (posting that is) too much lately.

dorokusai

That's a sharp looking piece of gear. You should sell the next door neighbors children and buy it now.

danger boy

polkatese,

about the only question i have right now is... what was it about the B&K Ref 50 that finally sold you on it? That made your decision easier? If it was any easy decision? Did you look at other pre amps and you kept coming back to the B&K?

Al

VR3

Well....
Danger....

Have you actually heard a B&K yet? (Thats why he has it )

polkatese

Al,
Here are my reasons: flexibility (with connections, HT features), sound (warm and laidback), and match with my LSi. The other benefit is, it has very low noise floor too. I compared it with Rotel, and I gave up the Rotel (not much difference in sound, but I like the B&K better). Btw, I bought a matching B&K amp too (125.7) and the combo drive 7 LSis (9,fx,7) with ease.

kelley

I've got the Ref 50 also and have no complaints. Actually upgraded from a Denon 1802 that I was using mostly as a pre/pro other than the rear channels. It made a huge difference (but then it should due to the price compared to the 1802). The remote that comes with the 50 is great once you learn how to program it on the computer. Took me a couple of hours but loads of flexibility.

Phil Dawson

I have a B&K Ref 21 which is the Ref 10 or 20 upgraded by the factory to Ref 50 components. I've had the unit for about 4 years and I love it. It is very flexible and sounds very nice. I use it to run 2 PSE mono blocks, 4 PSE stereo amps, and 1 Mac 2100 for my sub. They drive a pair of 1.2s, a pair of 2.3s and a pair of cs400is. This setup sound great for movies, 2 channel stereo, and 5 channel surround music. You can get the Ref 50 for $1499 or so if you check on the net and I believe that is from legit dealers with full factory waranty. The upgrade feature for B&K is great as somebody always seems to be coming out with some new format that may or may not be cool but you may neede to be able to play material in that paticular format. Go for it.
Good Luck, Phil

polkatese

Newsflash -

DB,
Before you run out and get one, it has been confirmed that B&K is releasing Ref 50 II in three weeks or so. It will be announce this coming week at CEDIA EXPO. It will come with PL IIx, 3 notch filter settings, etc. Hold off getting one cause the older Ref50 price will most likely be reduced again (my speculation, not confirmed)...

danger boy

Wow. thanks for the heads up... yeah if the price would drop even more..it would be a no brainer. I'm patient... i can wait...

yeah right?

No, i will definately wait and see how things shake out.

polkatese

DB, an update from Steve H over at AVSForum. He is a B&K dealer out of MN, also, a pic of the new Ref50sII:

REF50s2 will retail for $2395
The 507s2 and 505 s2 will retail for $3295 and $2995 respectively.
The new upgraded features will have:
* 3 notch filters (versus one)
* PLIIx
* Variable crossovers (each channel independently)
* The ability to change the timing so that you won't have digital locking dropout (waiting too long missing a second of audio) or hissing (not waiting long enough). This is a standard problem and prepro vendors are dealing with the cable box and DVD vendors in this fashion. This is a lot of the reason that so many versions were released on the B&K as a new boxes came on board violating the timing.
* New upgraded DSP's.
* Much of the relay switching is now reduced since it was used for stabilizing and the software can now handle the settling.
* Video conversion (composite and SVIDEO to Component) and OSD on component.
* The ability to EQ only specific channels (say you have a center behind a screen or a different rears as an example). COOL idea!
A few other tidbits were also added and possibly more before release but I am sworn to secrecy.....
* No HDMI or firewire as of now (hence REF-50II versus REF-60)

Re: Upgrades.... There are two boards that are different and the unit will have to go back to the factory. I suggested just having a new DSP board that can be done in the field for those only interested in PLIIx. They are thinking of this as a quicker solution. For those who would want the rest of the upgrades, that is a trip back to Buffalo and your system would be down No promises on having two upgrades techniques other than them thinking of it. I know B&K is taking orders as I placed an order on Saturday at the show.
For my customers, the upgrades are available (it is called the REF50s2)...
Hopefully this helps as I noticed not a lot fo info was on any forums.

goingganzo

that is nice but i would also check out sunfire and anthem but the b&k is a sweet pree too

i would also wait for sothing with dvi switching

Phil Dawson

Now might be the time to get a killer deal on a current ref50. I bet if you kept your eyes open and really looked you might find one for about $1000. That would be a steal. I bought my B&K pre-pro that way and had it upgraded when I felt I was too far behind which was after using the unit for a couple of years. To get the upgrade done only took about 10 days and I live in Denver (B&K is in Buffalo). Good luck,
Phil