AV preamp

Out of the "budget" models that you can find used for that amount of less, STRICTLY on sonics alone, the Parasound AVC-1800 was the best. It does have it's quirks like anything else at that price range, but its features and SONICS were the best that i had tried. I never tried the surround modes when listening to music, but it did pretty decent when strictly running 2 channel. No problems for HT use either. My biggest problem with it is that it did not change volume fast enough using either the knob on the front panel or via the remote control. You might be able to change this by contacting Parasound and doing a slight alteration to the unit. Sean >

Vongwinner, you can find a B&K 20 for arround $1200 used. This is a great preamp for the money. I own the AVP 3090(DD&dts/very similar but no tuner/has video switching) and it sounds great. The Classe SSP 25 also can be found used for arround $1500(if you can stretch alittle). Good luck......LR

I second Sean's response above. I have been using the Parasound AVC1800 for about 6 months now and I am extremely pleased. I looked at a few other AV pre-amps in this general price range, but I kept coming back to this one. If you are truly interested, e-mail me privately and I can tell you how to get a good deal on a new one from an authorized dealer. I think if you give it a listen, you will be impressed.