What's good used 5.1pre/pro for $1500 or less

Thanks for everyone's input. Distortion, your input on DAC's is particularly interesting.

I will hold off on the multi-channel for now as it's relatively new.

I use the Sony as an transport only so I will completely rely on the pre-pro's DACs. From your thoughtful inputs, it seems that ead Encore is a worthy consideration. At around $900 in Audiogon, I think it looks increasingly more attracitve. However, Anyone knows if that will be a worthy step up from my current Act-3?

Classe SSP-50, better sounding than SSP-25/30, very close to SSP-75, also a great preamp, you may find used for under $1500.

I am looking to upgrade my pre/processor from a B&K Ref 30. I need a processor that supports multichannel sacd/dvd audio BUT I listen to a lot of music in two channel which is very important to me. My budget can go a little higher than $1500.00. What pre/processor combines great two channel sound along with good multichannel capabilities?

Disortion:

I believe the EAD Encore used the Crystal Semi CS4226 20-bid delta sigma. Hence, the sound was quite a bit different from the Burr Brown in the ovation.

Harry

I searched through a little reference materials on the two EAD products. I am now unsure which DACs went into what. It seems that only the "signature" model got independent PCM DACs.

It appears these two models (Encore and Ovation) use a single chip for A-to-D and D-to-A. So with that in mind, Harry may be on to something. The more the signal is manipulated by the DAC obviously the more important the quality of the DAC becomes. Though, I still stand by my original assertion that the quality of the total package is more of a factor than the model number of the DACs.

Nevertheless, I will leave the comparison of the two EAD products (Ovation v. Encore) to those who have more experience with them. I have heard the Ovation, and I am pretty sure I have heard the Encore. Not serious listening, just in passing. I remember liking what I heard. Dont recall if it was through the built in DACs though.

There are a few other questions worthy of looking at. Do/will you need a 5.1 analog input for SACD/DVD-A? What about PLII? What is/are the Subwoofer controls, especially for 2 channel?

I got really really close to buying a Classe SSP-30. It was a nice sounding unit. I would bet the SSP-50 that Johnc mentions is a serious contender in this price range. I believe that was Classe's top Processor at the time.