Krell Showcase Review (1 Viewer)

[Robert A. Willis Jr.]

If you are interested, mosey on over to

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...or-3-2003.html

 

[Nick V]

I was extremely interested in this review when I read it, so I sent an e-mail to the Krell tech support team to get some clarification. Here's the e-mail that I sent them, and their response is below. I'll warn you right now, it's a bit dissapointing after reading that review.

Hi there,
I just finished reading the review of the "showcase processor" at 'secrets of home theater and high fidelity' and I was intrigued by this statement.
"For all of the multi-channel decoding such as Dolby Digital... the Showcase employs the Crystal Semiconductor 49326 DSP engine. This chip is fully capable of satisfying all the needs of the current offerings of both DTS and Dolby. It is also fully compliant with the new MLP standard developed for DVD audio applications. This chip can handle a pure digital feed from a capable DVD audio player and take care of all bass management and time delay settings."

First of all, is this information about the comliance with the MLP standard correct, and if so, are there any plans to introduce a hardware upgrade that would include IEEE 1394 digital switching (audio & video)? Also, are there any plans to introduce an upgrade that would include DVI/HDMI switching??

Thanks in advance,

Nick V

Dear Nick,
Thank you for your e-mail.
The information printed in the review is slightly incorrect. The Showcase Processor does not have MLP decoding, and we will communicate this information to the reviewer. One of the important differences between the Showcase processor and its top-of-the-line sibling, the Home Theater Standard 7.1 is that the latter unit is fully hardware upgradeable as well as software upgradeable, while the Showcase is simply software upgradeable. Therefore, any hardware changes, be it fire-wire, DVI, or anything else, would be applicable only to the HTS 7.1.