2. home-theater
  3. 966109940

Preamp/Processor indecision!

It's like pairing food with wine. It all sounds good to me. Here is my set-up thus far: Martin Logan reQuests (f) Logos (c) Aerius (s) Sunfire True Sub, 3 McIntosh 2255 amps, all tied together with MIT gear. Now, I am looking for a pre/pro that will do justice to both music and theater. Weighted a bit to the theater side. These are what I've been considering heavily. B&K Ref 30, Lexicon DC-2, MAC MSD4, Adcom GTP 750, Sony ES9000, Parasound AVP2500 and the Sunfire Theater Grand. I know there are much better out there, but the budget is $2000-3000. Am I missing something? What do you think?
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Showing 2 responses by pharrow8d48

pharrow8d48
3 posts
 
I am also looking for a preamp/processor that will perform well in 2 channel. Currently I have Levinson 380s, Revel Salon front speaker, Linn center & surrounds, Linn Klimax Solo amps, Tara The 2 Cable. A Marantz SSP feeds through the Levinson for Home Theater. Is there a Preamp/SSP that will perform as well as the Levinson on 2 channel and do a great job on home theater as well?
pharrow8d48
3 posts
 
Brandon, the answer is yes. The Levinson 380S has a unity gain feature that allows a processor to be put through. The Levinson still feeds the front left and right but the volume is now being controlled by the processor. Unless your 2 channel preamp has this feature the system will not be balanced since you'll be fiddling with 2 volume controls, one for the 2 channel and one for the processor. I've been using a Marantz processor for a couple of years and it's fair at best. But with a good SSP you get the best of both worlds.
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