Should I replace my SR700 with a high end pre-amp? (1 Viewer)

[Mark_Buss]

My question is this. I had a Marantz SR7000 running a Paradigm Studio CC, Monitor 11's and Polk RT400 rears. Didn't feel it was giving the power to the front speakers so I bi-amped the Monitor 11's with Marantz MA6100 monoblocks and am now driving the center off a MA700 monoblock. It sounds much better.
Which brings me to my question. I am happy with the sound now but got SUCH an improvement with the monoblocks that I am now contemplating replacing the SR7000 as a pre-amp with a higher end model. Is this worth doing? Will the sound difference be worth the price?
The most cost effective pre-amp I've seen is the Marantz AV9000 which I can get for a grand. Or I could wait a few months and swing a higher end pre amp. Sunfire, Theta Digital, Krell Showcase, Outlaw, Rotel...? Don't know much about them. Or do I sit tight with the SR7000? I'm only planning on running 5 channels for the foreseeable future, maybe someday upgrading to a 7 speaker system.
Is the sound quality worth the upgrade price? What high end brand will make the best Home Theater sound? I don't want to ever upgrade pre-amps again after this (for at least a few years
mark

 

[Holger]

hi mark,


if there is only a slight chance for you to upgrade to a 7.1 channel system in the future, do yourself a big favor and go with a lexicon preamp. IMO there is nothing out there which can compare to these babies if it comes down to multichannel playback. (with exception of meridian preamps maybe, spoken in manner of audio quality but sure not in manner of ease of use). if you have no need of such gimmicks like SA-CD, DVD-A or DTS 24/96 then you'll be perfectly fine with a lex dc-1.2/dc-2/mc-1. if an analog 5.1 pass-trough is important to you, then you gotta go with the mc-12.



regards, holger

 

[Mark_Buss]

What's really important to me is the best sound from my Sony DVPs9000es DVD player for home theater movies. Period. I'm running a digital coax into the mix. I don't need a lot of fancy features, just amazing dolby digital, DTS and overall sound.

2 channel music is nice too but not my priority.

thanks,
mark

 

[Holger]

mark,


well if the circumstances are so clear, it's even better and even more a reason to go with a lexicon. the sound you get out of it is stunning, especially if movie sound matters to you most. i guess there is a fair number of lexicon users
in this forum and i think they all agree on that.



regards, holger

 

[Mark_Buss]

Thank you for the advice. I'll do some research, can you give me a clue as to which Lexicon would fit my needs and how much those things cost? Thank you,

mark

 

[Holger]

mark,

i don't know the exact prices for new lexicon processors in the u.s., because they are sure different compared to the prices in europe. anyway, since a lot of people upgrade to the new mc-12 (9000§ - 10000§ msrp) you can find used processors for a bargain these days. basically the dc-1.2 to the mc-1 run all the same software(v4). they are all capable of doing the same decoding, but are different in the number of audio/video in-and outputs. they are also different in the quality of the a/dc's and d/ac's and in the signal to noise ratio. to my ears between the dc-1.2 and dc-2 is not much, if any, difference in sound quality. however, i found a big advantage in sound quality to the mc-1. with a little luck you should be able to find a used mc-1 for about 2000§ to 3000§. just make sure it runs the latest sofware(v4).


regards, holger

 

[Holger]

p.s.
§=$ of course