[keviinmc]

Here's my deal. I recently bought a Harman Kardon PA5800, which i love, and now I am realizing how unnecessary my receiver is, so to speak. I have a HK AVR320 and the only things hooked up to it are the digital audio connections and the interconnects running to the amp, which makes me think its time to switch things out a bit. I am assuming, based on what I understand, that the next step is to get a pre-amp and a digital processor instead. Am I correct and would doing so improve my sound? I was thinking about a Technics SH-AC500D for the digital processor, but am completely clueless about a pre-amp, if thats even what I need. Any suggestions that arent insanely expensive?? I have put together a pretty sweet setup over the last 3 years from steals off of Ebay and have learned a lot, but this is a new step that I'm relatively clueless about and would appreciate some advice/input. Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

[keviinmc]

any advice would be appreciated

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Quote:

I am assuming, based on what I understand, that the next step is to get a pre-amp and a digital processor instead. Am I correct and would doing so improve my sound?

Well I wouldn't automatically assume that, unless your ears are good enough that you can hear the difference between this or that DVD player or this or that receiver. And anything you get that's going to give you a noticible improvement in sound isn't going to be cheap.

That said, I'm not sure what your thinking is here. You want to do this because you're not using many inputs on the receiver? Well, a pre-pro is going to have lots of inputs, too, and likely features you don't even need, like balanced outputs, for instance.

The nice thing about receivers is that they are massed produced, so they usually have the latest technology. Pre-pros, on the other hand, are limited production items and as such it's not economically feasible to upgrade them every year or two. So, while they may sound better (or not) most pre-pros are behind the technology curve.

So economically, what your proposing doesn't make much sense. But if you're going for the "cool" or "prestige" factor, that's a horse of a different color.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

[keviinmc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne A. Pflughaupt

That said, I'm not sure what your thinking is here. You want to do this because you're not using many inputs on the receiver?

That is pretty much what I was thinking. But mostly i figured an individual component solely dedicated to Dolby Digital and DTS would sound better than the chip that is in my receiver. I just got a Harman Kardon PA5800, as mentioned, and when I hooked it up to my Kef's, the level of detail and clarity was so much better that I figured getting a separate Dolby component would do the same.