That's really awsome! It's amazing on how good a particular set of speakers will sound if you match a really good high current amp! You are now getting into the "really good stuff" area!
---
"
The distinction between individual instruments is striking." -- This is what i call "separation of instrument" and you need to have a really good amp to do this best. I'm happy that you're receiving such a positive result on this!! And WOW, you bought an 8802a already? What happened to the $2,000 budget? lololol -- this actually happens to us audiophiles SO MUCH!
----
Onto the 8802a! When you get it hooked up and first listen, your first impressions might be "where did the detail and clarity go". Like I said before, it is voiced warm, so it will have rolled off highs. But if you listen closely, I think you will find that the audio is overall more natural and "true" sounding. I suspect it will be more fuller sounding with more impact as well. We can tune this to be higher resolution, but first we want your general impressions on how you feel it sounds!
---
Panasonic DP-UB820. Well, I suppose you could get this, but in my opinion, there are much better transports. The Panasonic does have 7.1 analog audio outputs, but why would you need those if you have an HT Processor like the 8802a? The Panasonic does not even have a digital COAX output, which is something I think is critical for sound quality (it only has optical, which is a really bad digital interface).
----
A much better bluray "transport" would be the Sony UBP-X1000ES at the same $499 price point. I have had Sony bluray players in the past and they really make pretty darn good "digital transports". It has a digital coax output, which will give you superior sound quality for 2-channel PCM audio as well as old school compressed Dolby Digital and DTS (yes, even DD/DTS sounds better through digital coax when compared to HDMI). The only time you want to use audio through HDMI is when you are playing blurays with the higher resolution Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA HD audio formats. The sony player also has a very excellent collection of streaming apps (netflix, amazon, pandora, etc.). It also has a conventional IEC input, so you can do power cord upgrades if you wish.
----
Another bluray choice could be the Yamaha BD-A1060. I think it may have better power supply than the Sony with metal shields between power supply and audio circuits. It does have 2-channel XLR audio outputs, if you want to try that, but I think the 8802a digital will sound better. This also has IEC for power cord upgrades.
