Suggestions for new AV Pre-Pro

Mike, good to here from you again. I appreciate your suggestion, but since I purchased the Sim I-7 for 2 channel, I've become a little spoiled with the sound quality of the Sim thru the Focal speakers. What I was hoping for was a pre-pro that comes close to the Sim in SQ. I've considered the integra and marantz but I doubt they have the overall SQ as the Sim. I still listen to sacd, dvd-audio and especially dvd concerts. If I could get this SQ in both 5.1 and 2 channel from another pre-pro and 5 channel amp, I would sell my existing 5.1 set-up including the Sim and the DAC 1. As I stated in the beginning of this thread I'm not concerned about video processing. I prefer to manually set-up the 5.1 and I still use the same acoustic treatment as you. As some members have stated, the quirks in the Cary seem minor as compared to the overall sound. I'm open for suggestions if there are any other systems in the same price range as the Cary.

That's cool. I understand what you want. Like I said, the reviewes I read of the Cary were very positive. Besides being scared off by the bugs, there is not a dealer near me who carried the brand. So I took a chance on the Integra. I have been very satisfied and my system has never sounded better. I know your Sim kicks butt because I have heard them before. For me though, I am also into records now and the Integra does not even come into play for that. I have an Amadeus GTA table with a Dynavector preamp. It sounds simply fantastic. Good luck with your system :).

I was researching other pre-pros and I came across the Classe SSP-600. The reviews were excellent and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this model.

Man, if you can get that I would pounce right away. I heard one a few years and thought it was fantasic. But at the time the price was too high. Fantastic for HT and 2ch. The only thing is it does not have all the latest connections and it won't decode the high def audio formats. At least that's what I remember. Since you will be using the analog outs it might be a great fit for you. It will be a great pre for you if you can make it work in your system, IE have the player do the decoding and if you don't need HDMI. I was going to recomend that to be honest but I was not sure it would fit your price range. It will be hard to beat that IMO.

Mike, I'm leaning towards the Classe and probably make a decision shortly. As I mentioned, I plan to use the Classe dacs for the SB Touch so I just listed the W4S DAC 1 for sale and I'll use the funds towards the pre-pro. I also plan to sell the Outlaw 990 once I receive the Classe.

I plan to compare the analog outs from the Oppo with the Classe internal dacs for both 2 channel and 5.1. I'll let you know the results.