Are the really pricey HT Pre Amps worth it?

<< sigh >>

I wish.

The biggest problem with some mega-price pres is their likelihood of remaining in business.

I had a Theta Casanova, and I _loved_ it for music and movies. Couldn't keep up with HDMI though. It was a significantly better sounding pre/processor than Emotiva / Onkyo / Yamaha were producing.

But with the rate of change, prices and quality of output I could no longer go that route, not to mention that Theta development has limped along since HDMI, as has Meridian.

My target now is to use a Luxman integrated + Anthem pre or anthem AVR. You could do the same with Marantz. 

Best,

E

Thanks....I went for Lyngdorf MP60.  We shall see.

I think the only reason to pony up for the higher-end prepros is if 2-channel is important. But then, at those prices I’d rather get a decent prepro and a good stereo pre. To me, the only reason to not do this is if for some reason you can only have one box.

Combining a prepro with a stereo amp that has by-pass seems a good way to go.  I used a Bryston SP3 and Parasound JC 2 BP, and my Ayre KX-5 Twenty also can do by-pass as well. 

@dbphd - have you tried just using the Bryston SP3 as an analog preamp?  How does that compare to the Parasound JC2?  I'm not sure that the JC2 is going to be significantly better than the SP3.  The SP3 has their fully discrete analog input stages as well as output stages.