Proceed AVP vs. Sim Attraction vs. Theta Casa Nova

I sold a proceed to buy the sunfire series 2, imo the sunfire works well with 2 channel, I am using a krell kav 1500 with aerial 8b speakers, the prepro's you mention will not give you much improvement in 2 channel, to do so , you would have to step up to the krell hts or possibly the classe ssp 75, I tried variuos prepro's in a attempt to improve 2 channel, but I found going to a higher quality amp helped more then changing prepro's, good luck in your quest.

If you want excellent 2 channel without spending the money for a Classe 75 or Lexocin MC12, find a used high end 2 channel with a SSP bypass such as the Levinson 380 or 380s and keep your current setup for HT.

I have the Attraction- it has by far the best analog/preamp section of the ones you mention.

I have an AVP and love it. My friend could not afford one at the time so we got him a Casa Nova. I don't recommend it. It was so difficult and non-intuitive to use, with a horrible remote control. btw; If you do get a Casa Nova, the factory default is that all changes you make to setup the system go away when you turn it off! You have to find the setting that defeats this feature.

I agree with Blummd - if you can't afford to step up to something like the Lexicon MC-12, get a two-channel preamp with HT pass-through to improve your two-channel outlook. A Krell KRC-3 can be had pretty cheap these days and is well regarded for it's analog 2-channel performance. -Kirk

mgl23 is mistaken about the Casanova power-off default. It does not reset on power-off. This would make no sense becasue if it were true, every time you had a power failure the system would reset. I've had mine for over two years and never experienced that result.

There IS, however, a setting that lets you decide what to do with tone controls (treble, bass, balance, shelf eq..etc). You can decide to have them reset to your preferred default on power-up OR keep the last setting.

I do agree that the set-up is not very user friendly especially if you do not have on screen display (I do not). But after a few weeks with the unit, it's second nature. There is also a software package that you can load on your laptop and connect to the Casanova to help program it ($275). I didn't buy it.

Rap,
I might not have been clear: When the system comes from the factory, it is set to "everything reset to defaults on power off, including all inputs". You must turn this feature "off" and then it will always keep your settings (as you would expect). We were having the most frustrating time until we called the factory and they told us where to look for this feature setting (power off defaults) and we disabled it. I thought it was incredible that they even had the setting let alone that it comes shipped from the factory that way. And yes, they told me about the nifty software for your PC that cost $275 to make the processor managable.
Yes, it sounds great when you have it working.....and it has so many option settings you could spend your life tailoring it to your tastes. I prefer my Proceed AVP after using and hearing both.