If you like the Bryston sound, the SP3 processor is likely going to be an excellent candidate. It has fully discrete Class A audio stages for BOTH the 7.1 RCA analog input stage as well as the fully balanced XLR analog output stages. It is likely going to be the best 7.1 channel analog preamp you will find on today's market.
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Ah, anyways, you're budget is very constrained. Here's what you could probably realistically do: Outlaw Audio 976 processor: $929 Monoprice Monolith 5x200 amp: $1299 It's above you're budget, but it's worth stretching it. It would be very hard to find something below this. You can get a cheaper processor, but then you're looking at the very old stuff that is 12-17 years old (Krell HTS, Proceed AVP2, etc.). These older devices are typically starting to fail around now. Parasound amp would be okay. The Parsound sound is slightly warm with soft rolled off highs. That Parasound HCA-2205A amp on audiogon is an example. I suspect the Monoprice Monolith might be a little cleaner and higher resolution. |
As far as the amps, it's difficult. The Monoprice Monolith is currently going to be the most transparent, cleanest and highest resolution of the three. It has excellent and very full midrange tones. However, it could be a little hard edged in the highs (especially with your Focal metal domes). The Parasound HCA is going to be very smooth and very refined. Very natural sounding, but not as transparent. Rolled off highs and it's not going to be as exciting as the Monoprice. The Krell KAV-500 might be better than both of these. Much more refined, transparent and "truer" sounding than monoprice. More resolution and exciting than Parasound. It is a 20 year old amp, though, if this concerns you. I see one on audiogon for $1400. If you can get one in good condition for $1k, it might be really excellent. I have no idea when these will start failing due to dried out capacitors and other parts that may fail over time. |
Yes, the Parasound P7 is definitely better than the Outlaw 976. I googled for it. Rather than trying to buy a b-stock from ebay, why not just buy a new one from Audio Advisor for the same price ($999). They are currently having a 56% off sale on the P7 and you can have your choice of either silver or black. I suspect that the P7 may be discontinued very soon. Vendors typical do this type of sale right before the product is dropped. Your Oppo 205 does have two HDMI outputs. Even though the second output is labeled as "Audio Out", it will still output a full audio/video signal. The difference between the outputs is the processing: HDMI OUT (Audio Out): This hdmi output will send raw unprocessed audio/video as it is read directly from the disc. No processing or enhancement is applied to this output. HDMI OUT (Main): This hdmi output will also send audio/video, but it includes any processing or color adjustments that you make in the oppo menu for video adjustment, such as picture adjustment, DVD 24p conversion, de-interlacing, color, hue, noise reduction, etc. So, you could use both hdmi outputs if you wanted. But if you just want to use the MAIN output for two displays, you will need an HDMI Splitter. The best 2-output splitter that I know of is the Gefen GTB-HD4K2K-142C-BLK. You can get it for about $179 from BH Photo or Adarama. If you upgrade the power supply adapter to a Teradak/Zerozone 5V linear power supply, it will improve the video quality as well. You could get a cheap Monoprice Blackbird splitter for $85: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21613 Monoprice has had an iffy history with it's hdmi products. Some work out, but some are not reliable or don't work. It's cheap, though. |
Are you looking for a 5 channel analog preamp? (this means that you have a 5 channel source that is producing analog signals, such as the analog output from an Oppo 105/205). Or are you looking for a preamp/processor, that is taking digital input such as audio from HDMI or digital COAX and decoding and converting it to analog output? |
Wow, did your budget go up? lol. The sound between the A51 and A52+ is going to be very similar (if not the same). The main difference is power / power supply. Your Focal Dome speakers are not going to be too terribly hard to drive, so the difference between 180 watts per channel and 250 watts per channel is not going to make any significant amount of difference (in my opinion). The higher power of the A51 would be beneficial if you really large woofers and low impedance speakers. The A51 might be just a little bit more smooth and full, but it is a significant amount more. |
The Anthem MRX receivers are very good and have very high resolution speed and attack. The downside is that in some systems, the Anthem could sound too bright/harsh on the high frequencies. This could definitely be the case with your Focal. If you went this direction (and possibly with the Monlith amp), I would recommend some nice copper solid-core speaker cable, such as Audioquest Rocket 33 or Type 8 or Type 4. Also, use gold-plated terminations instead of silver. The Parasound would definitely be more forgiving on the high frequencies. You will likely have to spend a lot more to get a high resolution amp that is not bright, and you also should still avoid stranded speaker wire with anything silver or silver-plated. |
If you are wandering around in the budget area of a Parasound A51, there is a Chord SPM-2400 five channel amp on audiogon for $2999 from a dealer. This would be the next step up which would give you excellent resolution without being bright/harsh like the Anthem or Monolith. It would not be warm with soft/rolled off highs like the Parasound. |