SOTA processors also bang for the buck

OTOH, refurbed 80.2 pre-pros are now available locally for $1300. It just might be worth learning to love that mug at that price.

Marty

Martykl: I would love to find out what differences there are between an 80.2 and a 5508 (or between an 80.3 and a 5509) besides what is obvious and acknowledged.

Kal

Kal,

I'll ask for a more specific answer next time I speak to him, but the tech who advised me hinted at "substantially identical" as I recall. He never flat out said it, though.

I do remember that he mentioned a few small differences, and he kind of chucked at the notion that they would make a difference in performance. I'll follow up here after my next conversation with him (if I get anything worth posting.)

However, it is possible that Onkyo discourages specific disclosure from the dual authorized service shops - for obvious reasons. I'm not sure where you're located, but my guess is that there is such a repair company local to you. Since you are such a charming fellow, you might be able to get the answer for yourself with a carefully worded inquiry.

Marty

I am not really that interested but I thought the issue had been resolved for quite a while (in an AVS thread with pix) and that the two were identical except for "pure/direct" and the front door.

Kal

Hi Kal, do you feel that your highend choices that you stated in the Integra thread match or beat the current hi value products in picture quality, flexibility etc or is it mainly audio quality that seperates them from hi value for money Onkyo,Denon etc. One can't help but get the impression that these "smaller" companies just don't have economies of scale that say Onkyo has and therefore one has to pay substantially more for the same technology in these high end products.
Thanks