Preamp or Processor???


I am looking to get a preamp or processor, I am but not sure what to get. I listen to music 80% of the time and 20% movies. Right now I am using a Yamaha receiver as my processor and I want to upgrade badly. But I can't decide if I just want a two channels preamp or get a processor and dump the Yamaha. I also do listen to SACD so I need 5.1 inputs if I get a processor. Anyone have any suggestion for something used under $1500. I myself is leaning toward getting preamp and keep the Yamaha for processor since its pretty new and I don't watch movies that much, nor care about the sound that much in HT. But I want something that does sound really good for music. So far I been looking into some older models from Audio Research (I might want to try tubes). I also looked into the Audio Refinement since some of them offer 5.1 inputs on the preamp, but I am not sure how they sound. Lastly I heard great thing about Mccormack, it is really as good as they say they are? There are so many choices out there, I am not sure where to start.

Thanks for the help.
f155mph

Showing 1 response by f155mph

Electric_monk

You mention HT bypass. I know the Mccormack RLD-1 has that feature. Do you know if any other offer that on their preamp? My Yamaha does have preouts, so how would you hook that up?

Elevick

I am not using the Yamaha to drive the speaker, I am just using the processor part. I got an ATI 2505 amp to drive my speakers. Also I what I meant by tubes is to have a tube preamp. Sorry for the confusion.