? about pre amps

gwh

Have a Denon 3803 I originally bought to run a rti ht setup, I’ve now gone to lsi’s, 5 channel outboard amp, and have acquired a Denon dvd 2200 ( 6 channel out for sacd).

Could I get better performance/sound from a true pre/processor ?

I just use the Denon’s audio hookups , don’t have any video cables running to it.
If I had something not as tall as the Denon I could stack the dvd player on top (I’ve got space limitations) and have shorter, better quality interconnects.



Thanks




G

unc2701

Depends on the receiver and the pre/pro. Don't feel like you need to run out and get one- the sonic difference between what you've got and a true pre/pro will be minimal. An AVR is going to make some design sacrifices in the pre/pro section to accomodate the amp section, but for the most part these are things you'll probably not notice. The biggest difference will be in features and clutter- true pre/pros tend to do things you don't see with a AVR (2, 3 and 4 zones... more connections than you'll ever need, serial control... etc). and they have more space to do it in since there's not amp section. They'll usually also have a better DAC, but not necessarily. Bottom line- a true pre amp will be a little better, but your current system is plenty solid. So keep your dennon until you can afford that pre amp that you REALLY want.

Emlyn

Originally posted by gwh
Could I get better performance/sound from a true pre/processor ?

In my experience, there is a very sizable difference in sound quality when stepping up from a receiver to a dedicated preamp or home theater processor, even a receiver as good as the Denon 3803.

I used a Denon 3803 with a Rotel RMB-1075 amp and later a B&K 7270 amp. I upgraded to a Rotel RSP-1068 preamp/processor. The biggest noticeable difference was in two-channel music sound quality. There was also a somewhat improved quality in detail and spaciousness of sound in movies, but not a huge difference. I later upgraded again to a Parasound C-2 controller, and the sound quality was a significant leap ahead of either the Denon or Rotel used as a pre/pro. The processing power and automatic distance setup systems in the C-2 have taken my home theater system to a whole new level of coherence and clarity in what is an awkward room to set up acoustically because of one side being open to the rest of the house. The two-channel performance in the direct mode in the C-2 is as good as any comparably priced solid state two-channel preamp I've heard.

To me, the Denon was adequate for most purposes, and a good value in that it comes with 7 channels of amplification, but it's nowhere close in performance to a good separate component.

Whadyasay

I use a Denon AVR 2805 as a digital pre/pro only, as I've always liked Denon's performance on DVD movie decoding. I actually preferred it's performance on movies over an NAD T163 that I had for a while. For analog CD/SACD, I use a Sony TA-P9000ES, which is a 5-ch analog preamp/switcher with no digital processing. This is a bit extreme, but it gives me the best of both worlds within a given proce range (I paid less for both units than a comparable pre/proc from Rotel/NAD/B&K). I like having a dedicated analog unit, although the Denon's section is actually quite good for it's class.

Somewhere down the road, I'll look into getting a single-unit pre/pro for both digital and analog....but considering the performance I get out of the TA-P9000ES, the new unit would probably be quite expensive and I'd have to try things out for a considerable time.