Anyone try and compare the Halcro SSP 100 or 80?

Pramod1969,

thank you very much for the detailed analysis. I heard the same comments from my dealer in respects to music and movies. I may have to take him up on the home trial just to satisfy my curiosity.

D_edwards,

I am definately going to take you up on your offer to e-mail you about set-up tricks.
I really love the Meridian G68 for music but feel something is missing for movies. I think it is lacking the punchiness and bass slam for movies that made the Meridian 561 so much fun. The 561 was not even close when it comes to music but it's flaws made movies a lot more exciting. I even prefered the 561 to the 568 when it came to movies.

The Perfect Vision echoed my dealers comments on the Halcro about music and movies and the review came out a few months after (he did leave out the ergonimic quirks though)

The qualities that most of us look for in music does not always match what we like for movies and vice versa. I suppose that is why a lot of people still have a seperate music and movie system like I use to have.

I now must cope with one system that does both equally well.......sigh. Hopefully either D_edwards gives me the magic solution for the Meridian or the Halcro fits the bill.

Thanks all for the comments.

I had to finally chime in again on this thread since I started it.

I took the plunge and picked up a Halcro SSP-100 and have been using it for about a month now.

I have to admit to being a bit skeptical about the great things I have been hearing but boy were they right. Pramod1969 observations were pretty much right on and I have to thank him for being so thorough.

Compared to the Meridian G68XXV I replaced the Halcro can sound a little thin with some music. The G68 was an excellent pre/pro for music and had a warmer full bodied sound compared to the Halcro. The problem with the G68 is that it also sounded warm and full bodied with movies as well when I wanted dynamic and distinctive. The SSP-100 gives me dynamics that can scare you and surround envelopment like I have never experienced before.
While I did prefer the G68 slightly more for music the Halcro is no slouch and can be very good with the right recording. The Halcro does make my speakers disappear better than Meridian when listening to a good recording. The Natural DSP on the SSP-100 brings the music back down to earth and gives it a fuller body when compared to PLIIX and Neo6 music settings. I came home late one night and decided to listen to one of my favorite CD's with all the lights off. I really enjoyed this experience and realized that I could not localize were any of my speakers and sub were. I have to admit that I have never had my all my speakers and subs mesh together so well for music and movies.

If music is your first priority than you may be better off with a Meridian or Theta. The Halcro is not far off but the other 2 have a slight edge with music as I feel the music is more fleshed out. The Halcro can sound spectacular even in 2 channel with a great recordings but the Halcro does no favors for just OK sounding recordings.
For movies though I have not heard a better pre-pro for dynamics and surround envelopment. Just to clarify before someone chimes in the surrounds are not distracting either. I am using just one set of surrounds right now while my amp is being repaired but it sounds like I have surrounds all over. With your eyes closed you cannot make out were the surrounds are located (side mounted tri-poles) but you hear things right behind you and sometimes it seams like sound is coming from above you.
Dynamics are just killer too. I just watched Layer Cake on Blu-ray and when the sniper fires off the warning round we both jumped, a few seconds later he fires another warning shot and we both jumped again. At first I thought my sub was too low but when it is called upon you really feel it. Action movies take on an almost amusement ride feel now and it is a lot of fun.

I have tried a ton of pre-pro's but I finally feel I have one that will be with me for a long time.

Thanks to all that lent there advice, I really appreciate it.

Mike

The Meridian G68 has no HDMI switching but I believe they have a switcher that can be added for video only. I don't think the 861 has HDMI yet but I would suspect them to have it this year since Meridian owns Faroudja.

I have a Toshiba HD DVD player and a PS3 I use for Blu-Ray and both work perfectly with the Halcro. I also have a DirecTv HD DVR connected via HDMI and get great results.
I have not encountered any problems using HDMI with the Halcro.

I have tried using the scaler but it really is not very good. The SSP-80 is a smart choice if you can live without the preview screen and 1 less HDMI input.

I heard the upgrade to multi-channel LPCM HDMI is coming this June which would allow DTS-HD and Dolby Tru-HD to be played back by the Halcro. I have also heard that the upgrade will take the 2 channel high-res. to 7.1 channel high res. were the Lexicon will only do 5.1 channel high res.
A Halcro Tech told me that we should not expect HDMI 1.3 in High End pre-pro's until January. The HDMI 1.3 developer kits were just sent out about a month ago for High End Mfg's.

I have had my Halcro SSP-100 for about 2 months now and it still makes me say WOW at times. I really love this pre-pro.

Hey Jrunr,

I have a friend who replaced his CB3 with the Halcro as the CB3 had some kind of problem when watching satellite that drove him crazy.

He has said that the Halcro is better for movies but the CB3 was better for music. I believe he would have kept the CB3 if it was not for the problem.

If you are mainly into movies than go for the Halcro and save yourself some money. Get the SSP-80 as it sounds the same but does not have the lcd screen, scaler and one less hdmi input.

The Halco is the best movie pre-pro I have ever owned and it replaced a Meridian G68 XXV in my system. It is very good musically as well but the Meridian had a slight advantage there.

The Theta would probably serve you better if you are more musically oriented.

Good luck