EAD lovers: tell me about the $10K TM Sig Classic

Thanks Sat. But wasn't there a bit of a controversy about whether the later EADs sounded as good? One aspect was the DACs, as you mentioned, but also the addition of onboard video switching. One thing that always got me about EAD was how they had like 12 models of prepros. Very hard to keep track of what was what.

Okay. So now it comes to the next question (which I actually already posted as a new thread in Digital, but it has not yet been put on the board). Let's say I'm looking at one of these Classic Sigs (no multichannel analog bypass). I now use a unidisk player (a Marantz DV8400 at the moment) that has the whole 24/192 thing going on. The Classic has "only" 20 bit converters. In this day and age, when more and more capability is being put into a source component, does it make sense to use something like a Classic (great though it may be) if you wind up having to convert an analog output from a high-res conversion into another conversion with lower bit depth?

How would something like this (Classic) compare to one of these good analog multichannel preamps?

Well, my loss. I was unwilling to exceed my maximum on the auction, so I lost out on the TM Classic. Oh well.

As far as BM, some DVD players like the Marantz have pretty decent capability. I can do speaker size settings, distance for each speaker to the nearest 6 inches (okay, it's not to the nearest inch), gain to the nearest 1/2 dB. Don't have variable crossover (I think). I'm hoping the 9500 or Onkyo SP1000 will be better.

I feel bad for losing out on the Classic, but for the going price, plus the extra money for the Black Gate and Rectifier mods from Boelen it would have put me in a price range where I could buy a decent used 6 channel preamp. The purest audiophile in me likes that option better (I have to say this to keep from kicking myself, although it is really true), as I still can't see why I'd be spending money on a source with all that stuff in it if I'm just going to run it through more conversions or override it.

Yes, I am well aware that EAD is out of business. You interest me with the CAL; which EAD have you compared it to?

I'm not sure exactly when (I'm sure others here could say) but EAD as it was when the DSP-7000 and DSP-9000 were invented is not the same company that's around today. EAD USA is now really Alpha Digital Tech. I guess technically the company that was EAD became something else. I don't know, for example, if Dr. John Haegelin (sp?) is still part of ADTech. Maybe "out of business" should not be the phrase; I could see a lot of people getting concerned about their EAD products of current offering.

You interest me, Iam. Can you describe your impressions of the difference between the EADs and the CAL?

Michael, does that mean that the CAL did not (does not) have a 5.1 analog bypass?

Thanks for that info Michael. I wound up getting a used EAD Encore for a great price here on AgoN, and sent it in to Boelen Electronics (the place where many of the original EAD guys now call home). They are upgrading it to a Signature 8 - which has MC analog bypass - and will be doing their own set of magic mods to it. I'm hoping I'll get a nice sounding unit back. Others who have had them do mods to EAD gear seem to be quite pleased.