How much better will a preamp be over a processor


I've had a dedicated theater room for over four years now, and have enjoyed it very much. Over the last couple of years I have changed the equipment around quite a bit for many reasons, but the main one has always been to improve upon the sound for two channel listening.

The first piece I upgraded was the amplifiers. I went from a five channel (Anthem P5) to a pair of Theta Citadel 1.5's. I kept the Theta's for about a year and sold them to move on to a BAT VK-600SE in November 2008. I went with the BAT based on the strong recommendation of a fellow enthusiast, and have to say I've liked it much better over the Theta's.

Last April I had the opportunity to buy a pair of Aerial 20T v2's. I couldn't pass these up at the price and traded my Aerial LR5's in on them to help with the cost. These have been the single biggest upgrade I've experienced in my system as far as the over all sound goes.

This brings me to my question. I am currently using a Denon AVP-A1HDCI processor for all the processing and preamp duties. My plan from the beginning was to get a dedicated two channel preamp to go along with the Denon or whatever processor I would be running. Like many others the poor economy has caught up to me and buying something like a good two channel preamp is now a bigger deal than what it was two years ago. My plan was to be patient and buy a used unit here from Audiogon and try it, if I didn't like it resell it and take a small hit from what I payed and move on to the next one to try. Now this doesn't seem to be a smart thing to do (Maybe it wasn't before either?), so I'm hear asking for your guys input.

My initial plans where to get a BAT VK-52SE to run along with the Denon processor, but I've done a lot of reading over the last year or so and there seems to be a lot of options. I'm also interested in products from Ayre, Classe, Anthem, and ARC. I am prepared to sell the Denon and the BAT amp and start over, but it would be nice to just keep one or both and make something work. I still have the BAT VK-52SE or BAT VK-42SE at the top of my list, and really consider these to be the front runners for me, however I've talked to a few people who have gotten the Classe SSP-800 and rave about it. One person I spoke with even got rid of there ARC ref 3 after getting the Classe. He told me the Classe didn't have everything the ARC ref 3 did, but it was close enough not to worry about. This is how I feel as well, if I'm going to spend this kind of money I want a significant improvement not a small one.

I know there are a lot of variables in all of this and I'm sure there will be many opinions. I'm sure the first thing I will be told is to go listen to the products I'm interested in, and that is best thing to do, but I live out in a rural area, with most dealers being two to three hours away. I work six days a week now and Sundays is for the kids. I also don't want to go and take up a dealers time only to come home and buy something used from Audiogon. I just don't think that is right, besides what sounds good at the dealer might sound horrible when you get it home.

I basically have two questions for you.

What type of improvements should I expect by going to a dedicated two channel preamp over my current Denon processor.

Can a higher end Processor like the Denon, Anthem, or Classe provide a two channel experience comparable to a dedicated two channel preamp.

Thanks for your guys input.
audiodreamer
may i suggest a marantz 7 c.will cost you much less than the above mentioned preamps.i tried a lexicon processor in my system.while the sound quality was very good for 2 channel,it lacked any reasonable amount of gain.another suggestion would be a bottle head pre.i recently bought one for 155.00.sound quality is great,gain is more than enough for any system. and they hold their value very well.lastly a pre for 2 channel sound is a must. processors were built for home theatre not 2 channel systems.check out bottlehead.com.read what other bottle head users have to say about their purchases.
There is no comparison between a dedicated preamp and a processor in my experience.
The idea of combining a Pass X-1 with something like an Integra 80.1 for a total cost of under $4K seems appealing. But many of the newer SACDs have a multi-channel layer or bit-streamed audio that can only be accessed via HDMI. Then there are the raves about the new audio codecs available with Blu-ray via HDMI. So it seems to me to stand to reason that the DACs in the processor are critical as well. So where does that leave you (or me with my Proceed PAV/PDSD)? Do we buy a Pass X-1 to use with our Classe SSP 800, for maybe a cost of $8K on the used market?

db
First off I would like to thank you guys for your responses.

It looks pretty overwelming to me that you guys think I should get the two channel preamp.

My new question is Solid State or Tubes???

With the combo that I am running now I feel like I have a very good sounding system. The soundstage is good (Width X Depth), Dynamics are there, Plenty of low end, but the one thing I don't care for is the highs. Don't get me wrong the highs are clean and clear, but to me over excessive (especially at higher volumes).

I mostly listen to older and newer rock and the one thing that always seems to annoy me is they way cymnbals come across at higher volume levels. I don't know if I am explaining myself clearly enough, but I hope this gives a better understanding of what I mean.

I am under the assumtion that a tube preamp will help to roll off these highs a bit and push the midrange a little more, but I have read and seen people post that some Solid State gear (Ayre, Jeff Rowland) can sound close to tubes.

What's your guys thoughts?