Pre/Pro with the FEATURES of the flagship receivers? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Stutzman]

I'm considering an upgrade, and I, too, am weighing the Separates vs. Flagship Receiver question that many others are pondering.

Are there any entry- to mid-level Pre/Pros with the same level of component switching (3in,1out) and/or the component conversion (s-vid&composit->component) of the Denon 5803 and Pioneer 49tx?

I've gone over the quality discussions, and I'm comfortable that I understand the sound quality and price issues, but I couldn't find enough info on features. (Notice that I'm NOT talking about sound-field options, just switching and such.)

If the Pre/Pros don't have the features I want, that might push me to buy a receiver now for the features, and add separate amps later to improve sound quality to (arguably) near the level of separates.

Is there a Pre/Pro that provides these features for a similar price to the receivers?

 

[Legairre]

The Outlaw 950/AT P2000 and the Rotel RSP-1066 all have the component switching you want. The Denon 5803 is the only product I know of, even in receivers that does the component conversion. The Outlaw/AT and Rotel will cost you between $900.00 and $1500.00. Those are the only affordable pre/pros I know of that have the features of the flagship receivers.

 

[Tom-K]

If your willing to wait a little bit, Newcastle has a pre/pro that does everything the the flagships will do. I imagine with an SRP of $1,500 its street cost will be around $1,100. Per Jeff Hipps (works for Newcastle)

 

[Legairre]

Tom,

Any idea of when the Newcastle will be out or where I can find some info on it? I'd like to ba able to ad another pre/pro to my affordable shopping/listening list.

Thanks

Legairre

 

[Mike Stutzman]

It looks like the Outlaw has no component conversion and only has 2 component ins. (The conversion would be an excellent extra, but more than 2 ins is basically required.) I can't find any info on the Rotel RSP-1066, but the highest one I CAN find from them shares these limits.

Any more info on the Newcastle? That could be a real possibility.

 

[Dustin B]

What about bass management on the NewCastle? Fixed crossover, variable (if so how variable).

 

[Karl Englebright]

Here's a link to their new Pre/Pro. It doesn't go into specifics on bass management but it does mention that it has BM for 5.1 inputs.
http://www.sherwoodusa.com/2002produ...HTML/P958.html

 

[Legairre]

Here's a link to the Rotel. It's PDF of the 2002 catalog. Just do a search for RSP-1066.
www.rotel.com/html/rotel-catalog-2002.htm

 

[Evan S]

The Sherwood doesn't come out until September. That's a long wait. I don't have anything (receiver) to tie me over to use as an interim pre-pro, so the Sherwood is out unfortunately.

 

[Legairre]

The Newcastle looks pretty good from it's specs. For anyone willing to wait unil September they will probably get a great unit. Of cours that depends on the price. If it's in the $1500.00 range that's great. I have my heart/upgraditus set on something in Feb-April timeframe though.

Evan,

Are you saying you don't even have a receiver to tie you over until you get a pre/pro? If so. How in the world do you do it. You must be going crazy. Here I 'am whining about using my receiver. Man am I a punk or what. Now anyone going without sound. Your a real man. I bow my head in shame.:b

 

[Evan S]

Legairre, I have a receiver for basic 2 channel stuff and another receiver that powers my HT.

However, without a pre/pro, I don't get the benefits of multichannel SACD, I don't get to hook up my external amp (no pre-outs on the receivers) and you know what a huge difference that made to your system.

I don't have DTS decoding on my unit either. So, I pretty much have all the gear I need, but the lack of a pre/pro is really setting me back. I was holding Outlaw to their Christmas ship date. Not that I mind, really. I'm a patient person...but I can't wait until September for the Sherwood. That's a completely different ballgame.

 

[AjayM]

There are no pre/pro's within the price range of the 5803 class that offer 3 in and 1 out component video switching. There aren't any that that offer upconversion of composite/s-video to component (maybe some do compostite to Svideo).

Now there are a few that offer 2 component in and 1 out, and with careful shopping you will come in under the list price of a 5803.

Andrew

 

[Mike Stutzman]

Well I think my path is becomming clear. Since the features that I want (>2 component switching, and component conversion) happen to be the newest ones, I won't find them on a pre/pro yet. Therefore my approach is:

1) Soon: Buy a 49tx or 5308, get all the features I'm looking for, and reasonably good sound.

2) Later: Upgrade the amps, and use the receiver as if it were a pre/pro, improving sound.

3) Eventually: Replace the receiver with some new pre/pro once they have added all the features I want, completing my assimilation into the world of separates.

Make sense? Budget dictates that this happens over the course of many years, so I bet that by the time I get to stage three, I'll be really happy with what's available.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

The Sherwood Newcastle "re-masters PCM to 192/24".

This is not good. Means that Linear PCM input has to be re-sampled from 44.1 kHz. The best way is to simply *upsample* it to 176.4 kHz.

The DAT and CD-R/RW folks have known for years that re-sampling deleteriously affects sound quality.

Hopefully they will give the option of doing it or not.

 

[Joe Cole]

I have a question that ties into this post: Why don't receiver makers put out receivers with out amps, pre/pros of their own? It would make sense to me they might be able to compete with some of the higher end pre/pros.

 

[AjayM]

Why not check out the new high end line of Kenwood recievers, around $1200 will get you everything you want (component switching, upconversion to component), for a lot less money than some of the flagship recievers.

Andrew

 

[John Morris]

Mike: Another option you might consider is just not using your pre/pro or receiver to do component video switching, but instead, let your HDTV do it. Some folks feel that unless you get an Extron(I think that's the name)or other high end Video Switcher, you run the risk of degrading your HD video signal. That's one of the reasons that units like the Krell don't have component video switching. Also, most units that do component video switching do not do OSD through that output, although I think the new Denon and Pioneer units do? Still, there are other advantages to "going direct" with your component video sources, namely cable costs. It is much cheaper to run a single long digital coax cable, from your HDTV back to your rack than it is to run a set of long high quality component cables from your rack to your HDTV. Anyway, that is just another option that you may want to consider.

 

[Tony Lai]

Onkyo Integra Research RDC-7?

T.

 

[Mike Stutzman]

Actually, I find some of these alternate ideas to be quite promising. In my earlier research I couldn't find any HD switching boxes that would allow remote control with a reasonable cost, and I didn't find ANY converters.

Now I've got some more things to look up!

John, I don't quite follow. If I have my HDTV do the switching, then I've got multiple component video feeds instead of just one, right? Beside, the TV only has 2 inputs, which is what started the whole thing.

Anyway, thanks for the leads everyone!

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Mike:

"Is there a Pre/Pro that provides these features for a similar price to the receivers? "

No.

The only way to get a prepro with all the newest features, including number of inputs & outputs, at the same price as a flagship receiver, is to get a flagship receiver and use it as a prepro. The Lex MC12 comes to mind at 3x the price.

My opinion.

Rich B.

Receiver as a Prepro Advocate