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

[wes]

Originally Posted by kennyt

While I love all the features and find with the new audio codecs it sounds simply AMAZING, I wish the Denon did music better, it lacks the weight and separation I find in other AV preamps at this price point.

That is interesting, I am looking forward to hear the Classé SSP-800 with Music as this is my primary interest of course I love movies as well and will wait until they upgrade it so it decodes the latest Codec.

Also how do you find the Audyssey does it work well?

[kennyt]

Audyssey is very easy to use and works very well most times. sometimes I find it says a speaker is out of phase when I am sure it is not, and I have had it recognize speakers that go to 18Hz as small but for the most part it does it's job quite well.

When I have had weird things like this, often repeating the measurements fixes the problems.

NOTE this is not just from the Denon AVP, it is the sum total of my Audyssey experience!!!

[Robinson_A]

I too have experienced phase issues with the Audyssey EQ. A repeat of the calibration usually fixes this. I have not had the Audyssey miss label a speaker as large or small when it's clearly not.

I just got a new auto EQ option in the Neptune EQ that I'll be reviewing for AVRev.com this month.

[deacongreg]

Well, it seems that the review is split. The codecs are great sounding, which is indeed a very good thing, and you can believe the hype as they say. However, on the audio front, improvements need to be made.

Which means either there is a little more work to do to complete the package, or we are getting very close to full audio and video enjoyment, finally.

[kennyt]

Originally Posted by Robinson_A

I just got a new auto EQ option in the Neptune EQ that I'll be reviewing for AVRev.com this month.

I can't wait to hear your take on this Andrew! It does take extra IC's and space, but does offer some SERIOUS room correction at an 'affordable' price!

KT

[jimmydaves]

I'd rather spend $1600 for something like the Integra DTC 9.8 preamp/processor that really does a great job with home theater as well as music instead of spending thousands of dollars on an "audiophile grade" item like the Anthem D2 or other multi-thousand HT preamp who's technology is still at least 2 years behind.

The Integra 9.8 compared very closely and favorably in the latest Home Theater magazine review to the D2. Why spend thousands more especially if you're more into home theater than music that has to be audiophile grade or it's not worthy to listen to?

I'll take the $1600 front runner with all the latest/greatest technologies and then let it go 2 years later to replace it with another inexpensive preamp/processor that has the latest and greatest HT technology while the multithousand audiophile grade processors are still 2 or more years behind.