Final recommendations on a processor?


Narrowed my decision down to these final products and hope it helps others who are trying to decide as well. What ranking of best 3 units would you guys recommend of the following, for best home theater AUDIO in a home theater sytem using HDMI. (Internal video processing doesn't particularly matter to me since I'll just be using the video in an Oppo 83).

Integra DHC-40.1 or DHC-80.1
Marantz AV8003
Anthem AVM50v
Emotiva UMC-1 (or XMC-1 if comes out soon)
Outlaw 997 (if ever comes out)

Thanks everyone
rxlarry99

Showing 1 response by dbphd

Not sure why you feel a need to buy new. You can find several Anthem D2s listed on Audiogon for around $3500. I'd guess its video processing would exceed that of an Oppo 83. I've bought most of my audio electronics and a pair of speakers from listings on Audiogon, and have yet to regret it. Just read the reviews of the sellers carefully.

On AVS you can read a thread about whether the stereo performance of the D2 warrants the price. An 80.1 I heard lacked the soundstage and timbre portrayal of my vintage Proceed PAV/PDSD, but the fault may have been the setup and associated equipment. Of course, the PAV/PDSD had an MSRP of $10K over 15 years ago, lacks HDMI, the latest codecs, and software for correcting room acoustics, so sonic comparison with a $2K processor that offers the latest technology may be unfair.

db