Cary cinema 11a or Krell HTS 7.1 ???

Mateored,

My post wasn't clear. The Oppo can pass 7.1 analog to the Cary. If the Cary is set to bypass, the 7.1 is output from the Cary without further processing other than RCA being converted to XLR. What I should have written was that the Oppo does the bass management and can process lossless codecs.

In retrospect, I needn't have replaced the PAV/PDSD, because the PDSD has 5.1 analog pass-through and the Oppo can output lossless codecs. The PDSD also converts RCA to XLR.

db

I've owned both the Cary 6 and the original Krell HTS 5.1, so you may extrapolate from from my experience, but hands down the Cary was the more musical of the two in 2ch, and a slight edge to the Krell in HT. In fact, Cary makes some of the most musical 2channel processors you can buy.

I've using the Krell HTS 7.1 with an Oppo BDP-95 right now. It does sound amazing.

When I purchased my pre/pro a few years ago, I did listen to the Cary 11a and although it's a very nice sounding pre, I always felt more "engaged" by the Krell. It really comes down to a matter of taste, they are both very good.

Thanks for all the feed back, I decided to go with the Krell.
The Cary seems to have a lot of issues and I'm familar with the Krell. Thanks again Charlie

I was faced with the same decision 2 years ago and I went with HTS 7.1. The HTS 7.1 is the best processor in 2-chan mode. It's very closed to the Krell KCT in music. Of all the processors that i perosnally owned including the CAL SSP2500, Theta Casanova, Classe ssp25, it's the most musical processor. Though I don't own the Cary but I did audition the Cary 11b with HDMI option at 2011 CES and I was not impressed.

QN