System building advice

[nwphst]

I am new to the forum but have been reading like an addict for a few days now. I am an audiophile getting back into the game and educating myself again. I would truly appreciate some advice from you guys. I have and old Bryston stereo preamp, an old Pioneer Elite 47 ai DVD player (no Blu-Ray), two Adcom GFA 545-II amps biamping a pair of Vandersteen 2c speakers, and Tara labs interconnects and speaker cables. Would like to get a current pre-pro or even high end receiver, Blu-Ray disc player that can play audio well, and center channel. I like the idea of DTS-HD etc. for audio. Plan on a Pioneer Elite 60" plasma soon. The rest can be in stages. Not opposed to buying used gear (Audiogon?). Please give me some advice. Denon AVP-A1HDCI, POA-A1HDCI and DVD-A1UDCI? Meridian has no HDMI 1.3? Lexicon? Anthem?

[faberryman]

Originally Posted by nwphst

Meridian has no HDMI 1.3?

Meridian introduced the HD621 at CES which brings HDMI connectivity to its 861, G61, G68 and 568.2MM surround sound processors.

[JohnB]

I had an Anthem pre-amp for a while (paired with a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5-channel amp) and loved it. I'm not running anything that fancy these days (Integra pre-amp and Arcam amp) but thought I'd give a vote to the Anthem gear - just tough to beat for the money.

One interesting thing I've noticed with a lot of preamps/receivers these days is how they try to do everything and I just wonder whether you lose something in doing that. For instance, in my system I don't really need all the video scaling so many of these components offer, I do want HDMI connectivity in order to handle either high bit-rate PCM or the new codecs and I want it for switching but I could get by without the scaling and cross-conversion. My sources are a blu-ray player and a hi-def cable box and if I where using a non-hidef source it wouldn't be for critical viewing so let the TV scale if need be.

I guess I'm just wondering if there is a high-quality pre-amp that focuses on the sound maybe more than the video and just passes the video on without all the bells and whistles. Maybe that is short-sighted of me, I guess it is better to have too much than not enough but maybe simpler is better?

In any event, definitely check out the Anthem gear if you can and it is in your budget (given the brands you list the Statement line doesn't sound like it would be a reach).

John

[nwphst]

Thanks for the advice. I will check it out. Any thoughts on cables? Anybody have experience with Vandersteen surrounds?

[margaret10200]

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[margaret10200]

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