Recommendations for a Pre-Amp needed

[Robinson_A]

Ken took the words right out of my mouth. John, in the world of processors, you're going to want to get the best, most current thing you can afford. I really wouldn't invest to heavily in something I knew I had to upgrade just to make it current, when there are current options out there for less. The D1 was a great piece and one I would've been happy to own, but the D2 is so much better now. $2K to upgrade is a lot of money when you consider the Sunfire is roughly $3500 new. If you want D2 like performance check out the Anthem AVM50, it's basically a baby D2 for I think under $3K. We have one in for review and the review will post in month or two if you want to read about it.

Linda I think Ken is right on about the synergy arguement. I'd go the Sunfire route too.

[deacongreg]

Kenny T, when you refer to Sunfire amps as house sound, what do you mean?

[kennyt]

Every manufacturer, for the most part, has a sound they voice their gear to. What I meant was Linda likes, assumadly as she still has them, the sound of her Carver amps, so it would stand to reason she might find the TGV to her tastes as well.

This is not to say anything bad about the Anthem D2, which I own one of, it's an amazing pre/pro, just given her system, I felt she might be better served by the TGV.

Make sense??

[John Paul Ahn]

here's my thinking...
if i could afford the D2, i'd buy that firstover the sunfire tgpV, no question. unfortunately, that's not the case. i know i can afford a used D1 and later when i can afford another $2000 do the upgrade (from what i understand anthem essentially changes and adds whatever is necessary to make the D1 into a D2 including the processors and the hdmi switching). i'd basically would be finishing with a D2 but an ultimate savings of about $1000-$1500.

i guess what i'm asking is if this is ultimately a better way to go, because i'm not going to want to change my pre/pro again for quite a while after this.

oh, if it makes any difference, i'll be using the earthquake cinenova amps(unbalanced) to drive the speakers. my front l/r are b&w matirx 801 s3, the center is a b&w nautilus htm-1

[Robinson_A]

You sound like you've thought it through. Ultimately what anyone says in the forums here is merely a suggestion. Your plan to upgrade sounds reasonable enough and clearly fits not only your needs but your budget as well. Anthem is a good company, one that is clearly going to be around for a while both on a retail level but for their customers as well. I say go for it if you're ready. If you need some temporary HDMI support/switching then I suggest you look into the Radiient Select 4 HDMI switcher. It's damn good and cheap to boot. Who knows maybe a D1 and a Select 4 will be all you need. Total savings of $2000.00. Enjoying your movies and music=priceless.

Andrew

[LindaE]

What I like the best sound wise are Krell amps and Wilson Puppy's, I'm also a fan of the Macintosh tube amps.

My carver amps have served well up to this point. How I will feel about them after I upgrade the preamp and add the Martin Logans in the front is a good question. I believe they have the power to drive the ML's which is a good start.

the carver tm55 put out 500 watts per channel into 4 oms or 300 watts per channel into 4 oms
3/4 chanel amp I think is 60 watts per chanel

Thanks for all the input everyone - it's much appreciated

LindaE
http://TabletPc2.com