High end pre/pro's. Are they worth it???

[kennyt]

Originally Posted by HT Junky

The six wire deal with SACD and DVD Audio really sucked.

Six???

I'd have tolerated only six! For a while my DV-50s was connected by the 5.1 analog (6) a coaxial digital cable (7) balanced analog stereo outs (9) and DVI (10). Prior to the upgrade to 's' status, i was suing component video (12)!!!

I too am happy with the new ease of connection, though I personally don't like the connector of the HDMI. It is far to fragile and can come loose. I wish they kept something like the DVI-D connector that screwed down and was more durable but....

[deacongreg]

yeah kenny, I agree definitely. I helped on a Pioneer Kuro plasma install with the Onkyo HD DVD
player. The square piece at the end is so heavy, that any tug at all, can move it out of the connection. You would think with all these cable manufacturers, someone could come up with a better cable.

[MikeSp]

Originally Posted by kennyt

I am curious to see what you all think of this.

I have had some of the best pre/pro's ever made, including my reference Meridian 861v4. I have also had many reference level pre/pro's along the way, going back to the Proceed PAV/PDSD combo, Linn 5103, etc....

Clearly, the pre/pro market is one of the fastest changing markets in audio, and has been for a long time. New audio and video formats have outdated older units quickly and greatly dropped any potential resale value. The best of the best pre/pro's from only a year or so ago are completely outdated now because of HDMI and all the new HDM advanced codecs.

So I ask you, is it worth buying an ultra high end AV preamp or should we all just buy the new Denon or Integra pre/pro and save our money until this crazy ride stabilizes?

At this moment in time, if we want modern HDMI 1.3a pre/pros with lossless decoding, we have little choice but to buy Integra or Denon -- the big boys are incapable of moving that fast -- an email from Classe' indicates that their new pre/pro will be out shortly, but will not have nearly the capability of the Denon, Anthem says no way--that their HDMI 1.1 works just fine and that there is not the need for a newer version, Lexicon recently mentioned that they had no immediate plans for a modern pre/pro giving the same reasoning and same link to an HDMI 1.1 white paper as did McIntosh, and McIntosh is probably a couple of years away from a modern pre/pro.

THEN comes the cost -- while quality amps keep reasonable resale value (and I see a quality amp lasting 20-30 years or more), a few recent peeks at the resale value of Lexicon and other current model pre/pros from high end companies showed extremely poor resale value.

Frankly, I cannot stand the depreciation of high end pre/pros -- they have become almost disposable -- one high end brand that retailed at $14000 was recently for sale on A-gon for $4000. Even IF I could afford to take that big a financial hit, I would rather put that money into something else. For me, the highest end pre/pro I am considering is the Denon (or perhaps the pre/pro portion of the Pioneer Elite SC-09TX receiver which is the same total price as the Denon).

MikeSp

[kloneman]

Originally Posted by kennyt

Six???

I'd have tolerated only six! For a while my DV-50s was connected by the 5.1 analog (6) a coaxial digital cable (7) balanced analog stereo outs (9) and DVI (10). Prior to the upgrade to 's' status, i was suing component video (12)!!!

I too am happy with the new ease of connection, though I personally don't like the connector of the HDMI. It is far to fragile and can come loose. I wish they kept something like the DVI-D connector that screwed down and was more durable but....

I've said this before: the use of a copper interconnect for HDMI was stupid, especially for medium-to-long runs of multiple channels of high rate digital data. This should have been done with an optical connection. I wonder how well the currently selected interconnect technology will function as it ages, and as more demand is placed upon it, by reducing the compression on all audio and video channels. The connector itself looks like it was designed to fail mechanically too.

[hikejohn]

I agree with the notion that expensive processors are a rip off...speaking as former owner of Lexicon, Meridian G68....and presently a Meridian 861 v4.25. I find it amazing that Meridian says nothing about their plans for an upgrade path...not to mention implementation....but have time to introduce a $3000 F80 clock radio...a nice one...but still not a benefit for their customer base...but rather a sop to their in partners/investors whose skill set is selling "premium goods"... This is not to say that the 861 doesn't work well but their inaction has made their products needlessly drop in value ....do you really think I will ever seriously spend top dollar for their products again....not likely...by the way you can pick up their new $3000 clock radio for about $1200 on the web....this is complete brand mismanagement....

[kennyt]

hikejohn,

I too had the 861v4, it is a great pre/pro, no doubt, and Meridian does have plans for a v5 and v6 upgrade, but no details yet as to what that is other than the v5 requires all new in/out cards, and the v4 will not be upgraded to the v5, only to the v6 whenever it comes out (hopefully CEDIA)