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In Reply to: RE: Processor nightmare.... posted by ABliss on February 01, 2010 at 07:50:44
Can't recommend anything in the "league" you seem to want. That's because I'm probably even more easily annoyed by deficient and restricted processing ability. So...you have to move "down" a league to get something that does the job, and whose firmware is kept up-to-date and bug-free.
Analog mostly? Can't really help. Anthem drove me crazy, and I like Anthem, but see above paragraph. Classe maybe? Now, if you're mostly using digital-output sources, then Integra is reasonable. Maybe the top Denon pre-pros, I don't know how good their analog input capability is if you need that. I like their design much better than the Integras, but you pay for it.
My point is, I have only found the big names acceptable in keeping up with processing capability. The "other" names that we love just do not usually have the resources to address it in timely ways. Yes, I really value reliability, I use my gear *a lot*, and I get unreasonably annoyed when something ain't right. "Stepping down" from what I really wanted in my system was the only way to keep my sanity, relatively speaking.
Follow Ups:
Denon's processing has always been very reliable and up to date, at least in my experience. I've owned several and many of my friends have followed suit based on what they've seen at my house.
OK, they are not in the same category as Classe, Krell, etc. but at this point it looks like you want a very good performing unit that works without hassle. Denon is part of a very large electronics conglomerate that has the resources for R+D and can act quickly when a problem develops.
Baba-Booey to you all!
Denon is not perfect, but they certainly do the job well enough. I would have said Marantz too (same company), but once I learned in practice the value of a half-decent Audyssey implementation, when I choose to use it, I could not choose their offerings in the same price range. At the time anyway, oughta check up what they're doing right now. I wish Integra would truly acknowledge their units are only good for digital sources, and design their boxes appropriately (see Denon). Look like late-70s/80s designs when all switching was analog. Who doesn't use a remote to do stuff 95% of the time with a pre-pro these days?The Denon pre-pro was ~$7k in Canada when I went shopping last time. Besides that I'd have to rearrange my house to fit it in :), that seemed a bit much. Now I know better, I would be very happy with it, based on that the cheap Denon substitute has acquitted itself so well. [I don't put analog signals into my digital pre-pro, so they don't matter to me.]
Edit: can you tell the cheapskate in me would really rather buy the Integra? It does the digital pre-pro job just fine. The design is just not to my taste, which is irrelevant to anybody else.
Edits: 02/01/10
I would suggest a solid look at the Integra 9.9 or the Onkyo 886 preamp-processor.
They are the same units with different cosmetics and there is a difference in price. You can buy the 886 from Onkyo dealers in Europe but in the US you have to get the Integra from an authorized Onkyo dealer; they don't offer the Onkyo versions of pre-processors to the dealers.
However, there are a few places in North America to get the 886 if you want to save a few $$.
As is they do very good jobs, and from the sounds of it you would be happy right there.
There are people who swear by the mods done by The Upgrade Company to the 886, making it able to compete and according to some, beat, anything on the market sonically.
I have long considered Onkyo/Integra. I was really hoping the 80.1 would have a more appropriate/modern design considering what it does. Also it bugs me a bit that some of the Onkyo models have features I want that the supposedly "higher" Integras don't. Onkyo/Integra cost MUCH more in Canada than in the U.S., and have just started to go mainstream here in the last year. I could buy in the U.S., but no warranty, and a warranty is another thing I have learned not to go without for these processors. I trust Denon's engineering a lot more than Onkyo's, so that's in my mind too.I am using a Denon 3808 AVR as a pre-pro. HDMI only. It has worked well, and I have been looking for a worthy replacement for 2 years. Not because I don't like it, just the opposite. I am sufficiently impressed by it that now I want "better", before I was a bit dubious about this whole HDMI thing but 2 years has more than convinced me.
What has me waffling on the Denon A1 is it's "old". I've been looking at it for ~2 years, so it ain't new anyway...I keeep thinking they'll replace it, not that it's really the slightest bit out of date, and prices will "plummet" (they usually have a big sale at the warehouse here, which isn't that far).
Anyway, for the OP, the point is to buy a pre-pro from somebody who has proven they can do it. Right now. And not from somebody who has a "name" from doing something else. And takes forever to get with it, by which time they're a few years and plenty of bugs behind again.
Edits: 02/02/10
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