Theta Casanova or CAL ssp-2500

I was also looking at the CAL piece, I am holding off because it doesn't have the six analog inputs needed for SACD and DVD-A. Not that I'm a big fan of High Rez, but I'm waiting a bit longer. If you're interested in these formats for surround sound, the CAL is not the one. Sonny

Your not really gaining anthing with the Cal...other than astheticly matching your amp, the sonics are actually quite similar really. So, what are you after? There is most certainly very little sonic difference for HT especially.

Besides asthetics you are gaining the ability to put your amp into either normal or cool bias plus the flexibility for setting the number of channels you want running for each setting. Stero can be set through the Cal SSP where only the front & right speakers are active when listening to you CD collection, the front three speakers are active when watching a regular TV broadcast and all five turn on when watching a surround sound movie. With your listening preferences at 70% HT you definately have the premier amplifier for that particular venue. I've run through quite a few amplifiers over the last year, (Threshold T-200, Proceed HPA-2, and Theta Dreadnaught 1) and in HT setting none were as dynamic or had the slam effect of the Cal unit.