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Which Processor?

I am considering the Krell Foundation or the Marantz AV8802 which will be used with one of Krell's new ibas amps. My speakers are B&W 802's and a B&W center channel. There are two other small speakers to the rear but these will be powered by another amp and are not a concern. The question is: Is the Krell Foundation worth almost twice the cost of the Marantz. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
walnut
erik_squires
16,041 posts
 
Good analysis.

Slew rate is often touted, but the cheapest Op amp you can buy still has a slew rate capable of 100kHz or higher frequencies.  It's a little over-hyped spec IMHO.

Best,

Erik
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

@erik_squires - totally understand. Just chasing after the fastest slew rate is not a good idea (and I know you can get lightning fast op amps for cheap - they are all over the place). Actually, in my extensive R&D with DAC circuits, I have found that 20V/us slew rate is about the perfect slew for audio. A faster slew rate will actually translate waveforms to be faster than they should (i.e. you’ll see a push in the upper mids/highs). However, when the slew rate drops below 20V/us (such as 12V/us of the MUSES01 op amp), the sound will become warmer/fuller but it can also be described as slower/boring.

I was just trying to illustrate that Marantz has made a design change in their HDAM circuits from the older generations and I also read that slew rate was part of that.

njcardave's avatar
njcardave
53 posts
 
 How good is the Anthem AVM-60 ?
herndonb
124 posts
 
The Foundation stomps the S-1200, I know as I've compared both thoroughly.  The Foundation is an EXCELLENT sounding preamp and processor. 
dragon_vibe
430 posts
 
Out of the ones you selected to my ears only the Anthem was a better sounding processor. The Marantz will provide you with a lot more features.

I am a Quested Speaker Dealer for South East Asia and have been through tons of processors including Datasat and Trinnov. After spending a lot of time with high end processors and mid level processors I have chosen the Anthem for my personal rooms.

I don't use room correction anymore, I work on the room and then the Processor EQ only. I find this method gives me better natural non fatiguing sound.

Clients can wish to buy what ever they can afford.

The Trinnov was a terrible sounding processor which has a ton of features often reshapring the sound to what ever suites you at the expense of more distortion adding into the chain. Mind you this is not actual distortion you would pin point out easily but Trinnov was the least natural sound processor even with all the Room correction turned off. Honestly I can never recommend this processor to anyone unless you absolutely need over 16 channels and you live in mansion.

Next up is the Datasat, All Room correction turned off, it still have a nice natural sound to it, their was a smoothness to the sound but tons of bass at the same time Datasat just overall sounding better than Trinnov room correction turned on or off.


Marantz Not bad, room correction sucks but you can bypass this and get outboard DSP Dirac boxes to do the room correction for you.

Anthem, similar sound to Datasat with extra features but probably not as flexible as Datasat when you need more pro level tools to work on getting things done right. Out of all the processor the AVM 60 when correctly setup with speaker and amplification gave me enough satisfaction as the Datasat in overall steering of the sound around the room and the bass to clarity.

Why spend 20,000 on a digital gear when you can match performance with 2500 dollars easily.
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