|   AV Preamp With Quality 2 Channel Playback - Need Suggestion | foreel
May 5, 2002 1:37 AM | | I've been looking at buying an AV preamp lately and was wondering, from experience, which ones have truly incredible 2 channel music playback (on the level of separate 2 channel SOLID STATE preamps). So far my most likely choice is the B&K Reference 30. Oh yeah, and no suggestions for preamps costing over $3,000, because that is out of the question. Also, don't reply if you've ever used the phrase "plenty of low-end SLAM" to describe an amplifier. Thanks in advance. |
| re: AV Preamp With Quality 2 Channel Playback - Need Suggestion | jdodmead
May 6, 2002 4:52 AM | | I purchased a B&K Ref 30 about 5 weeks ago and have no regrets. Everytime I turn it on, I am amazed at the sound. The 2 channel and ht sound is so much better than what I had using a Yamaha RXV-1000 for a processor. The only other one that I was cosidering was the Anthem AVM20, but it was a little more money. Also I got a really good deal on this one, someone bought it and took it back to buy a Lexicon. I was told that the Lexicon has better suround sound and the B&K has better stereo.
How much better can you get? So mine was a month old and I picked it up for $2000. Even at that I was surprised that my wife let me keep it.
This processor will be the anchor of my system for many years to come. |
| re: AV Preamp With Quality 2 Channel Playback - Need Suggestion | ghs1998
May 6, 2002 8:31 AM | | I would probably say either an Anthem AVM20, which can be had for about $2500-2800, or a Lexicon MC1, which can be had for about the same price. I auditioned the Ref30 a couple of times, and was not impressed at all by the stereo performance. Truncated sound, shrill highs, boomy lows. My former preamp, a Rotel RC-1070, list price around $500, destroyed the Ref30 in terms of soundstage, meutrality, and overall presentation. One option you could take is to get a good music only preamp and connect the main-outs of an A/V preamp to the tape loop or the SSP loop of a music only preamp. This way you can get the best of both worlds. For $500-1000, you can get a music only preamp which will outdo almost any a/v preamp in stereo mode, and you can get a Rotel 1066 or an outlaw (if you can wait) for just movies. |
| Totally do not agree with above review for REF 30(nt) | jdodmead
May 6, 2002 11:53 AM | | |
| re: AV Preamp With Quality 2 Channel Playback - Need Suggestion | Chuck G
May 6, 2002 11:58 AM | | It (getting a AV preamp with as good 2 channel sound as a seperate 2 channel preamp) just isn't going to happen, IMHO, without spending 5k for something like a Classe 75.
I still think your best bet is the Sony TA-P9000es (used for 2 channel) with your choice of AV preamps, like the Outlaw 950, Sony TA-E9000es or Marantz AV9000. Taken together, the P9000es with any of the other AV preamps will get you better overall results. I am trying to save you some steps here...........So for a total of around $1500, you will outperform overall, any ONE preamp under 3k. |
| JUST HAD AN ENLIGHTENMENT - I think | foreel
May 6, 2002 2:50 PM | | I already own a Morrison ELAD 2 channel preamp, and don't want to stop using it when I finally buy an AV preamp for movies. Could I just connect the cables from the L/R FRONT pre-outs of both the ELAD and whatever AV preamp I buy together using a female/female to male connector (the male end of course going into the amplifier's input). If that didn't make any sense - let me try to explain a little better. Basically the LEFT FRONT cable from the 2 channel preamp AND the LEFT FRONT cable from the AV preamp would join together using a female/female to male connector before going into a single amplifier channel. The same thing would be repeated for the RIGHT channels. Would that mess up anything electronically or sonically?
THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES - SORRY IF I GAVE ANYONE A HEADACHE!! |
| JUST HAD AN ENLIGHTENMENT - I think | Chuck G
May 7, 2002 3:43 AM | | I don't think you want to do that. Thats what the P9000es is for. It has a unity gain feature that will work sweet for this type of setup. You would connect your ELAD (does is have a home theater passthru, it may) to the P9000es 2 channel bypass and the AV preamp thru the HT bypass on the P9000es. Then switch on the P9000es from 2 channel bypass for the ELAD and HT bypass for HT.
I am pretty sure you could cause some damage with your suggested setup. But do check to see if the ELAD already has a built in HT bypass, that way, you could just run the left and right main outs from the HT preamp to the ELAD (just like the P9000es will do). Some of the nicer 2 channel preamp DO have the HT unity gain feature. What you suggest doing is basically connecting 2 preamps to the same amp at the same time.....not good. |
| JUST HAD AN ENLIGHTENMENT - I think | foreel
May 7, 2002 8:52 AM | | I was just trying to think of a setup where I could avoid spending the extra $500. The ELAD (you can see the great reviews on this site) is a music only preamp. It has 2 sets of L/R inputs (although an input box to add more than 2 inputs is available from Don, the manufacturer) and 2 sets of L/R outputs. It doesn't have a "pass through" function per se, but the ELAD itself doesn't really process anything. Frequency wise, from 15hz to 200khz it is absolutely linear. It just takes the input signal and outputs the same thing, with gain. I may give a call to Don himself and ask if I could put the ELAD between the outputs of the AV preamp and the inputs of the amp. (just to get his thoughts). So far the Sony is probably my best bet, but I'm still going to look at other options before I plunk down $500. This would be SO MUCH easier if there were a sub-$1000 AV preamp with a 2 channel bypass!! Thanks for all your thoughts on the subject! |
| JUST HAD AN ENLIGHTENMENT - I think | Chuck G
May 7, 2002 9:57 AM | | You are welcome. The P9000es is the cheapest solution I could find and I looked VERY hard. You can certainly try using one of the ELAD inputs like a home theater bypass. Then you have to keep the ELAD volume control at a predetermined spot for HT (calibrate the levels and you will have to use both volume controls and settle on where the ELAD's volume needs to be for HT). I did try something similar with bad results for the HT side but the ELAD may work much better. It is worth a try. |
| |
