I thought about the Emotiva but ended with Onkyo PR SC886 (Integra 9.9 equivalent) and not looked back. Superb sounding and also a does a great job with video upconversion to 1080P.
Check it out!
Kenobi
Check it out!
Kenobi
What about Emotiva?
I have a decent 7.1 channel pre/pro, the Boston Acoustics AVP7, based on the same unit as the Sherwood-Newcastle 965, which was also the basis for the Outlaw 990. I could stay with this unit indefinitely except that it can't do HDMI switching or decode the new lossless codecs on Blu-ray discs. I could just get an Oppo BD-83, use its internal processor and plug its 7.1 channel analog outs into the AVP7, but for just $200 more I could get the new Emotiva UMC-1 AVP with HDMI switching and TrueHD and DTS-HD-MA decoding. Then I could just stick with my current PS3 as a Blu-ray player and finally extract the lossless codecs.
What I'm wondering is if I'd take a noticeable hit in overall sound quality. The Boston AVP was a $2K unit, though the Sherwood and Outlaw units were about half that.
What I'm wondering is if I'd take a noticeable hit in overall sound quality. The Boston AVP was a $2K unit, though the Sherwood and Outlaw units were about half that.