Diminishing Returns In A Hi-End Preamp/Processor?

Mitch,

I've often wondered about his same question. While we won't know without direct comparisons, we can certainly speculate. I have an AVM50v for the record and I use it for 2-channel and multichannel. I heard a D2v in a home theater environment at a retailer. The audio was simply excellent.

I auditioned my current front speakers (Revels) and a competing speaker system (Wilsons) on Ayre and McIntosh 2-channel electronics respectively. I can't say that there were massive and groundbreaking differences in the electronics that made me go, WOW! I was told that the Revels opened up more with the Ayre than the McIntoah and really sang with Levinson. But I digress. Given that aural memory is what it is, I would conjecture that there might not be *huge* differences with analog pass through.

However, remember that the D2v specifically has premium A/D and D/A DACs and superior room correction and granular bass management.. Those can and do play an audible role--and a significant one.

Personally, I've found the role of high quality room correction to be significant and valuable in both two-channel and multichannel.

So, depending on what you value and what you want the system to do there may or may not be stellar differences. Remember that for units like Anthem Pre-Pros you are getting 3 zones, DACs, independent and assignable inputs, ability to label all sources, RS-232 automation, room correction, insependent bass management for music and movies, HDMI, multi-path recording of sources, top-notch video upsampling, noise reduction, and switching, individual source adjustments and tweaks and much more at premium execution. You also get Anthem's support (which is stellar).

In your case, if all you really want is two channel analog with decoding done at the source, with no room correction, etc, then yes the D2v is likely overkill and you won't use 95% of the features. Now, what will give you the same sound? We can conjecture that $1,500 pre-pro is a good price point and may very well do the trick, but that's all it will be unless a good head to head double blind test commences.

If however, you are starting to drag in things like room correction and decoding at the Pre-pro level, then I'd conjecture that it may be a different story and the $1,500 Pre pro may not match up sonically to the D2v.

Just my 2 cents.

I disagree. In my room, there is a huge difference in the pre/pro for home theater. It is also as big, or bigger, for 2 channel. (I use it for both in this room.) I've had the opportunity to try many. I expect great 2 channel performance, but, there is a difference in 5.1, or 7.1 also. If you think a $1500 pre/pro is going to sound the same as one that is $7500, it isn't. There is a reason you pay more, and it isn't just the name. I don't think it's subtle either. To me, it's night and day...

In my experience there is a big difference in sound with multi-channel processors. I have a separate HT system that I only listen to movies and cable TV with. I have had many many many processors and have found that the amplification as well as the processor makes a big difference.......... I like the Anthem.

If you're going to use the DACs and processing of the pre/pro, my experience is there is a difference in sound quality. If you're using the DACs and processing of the source, i.e. bypassed analog input, I'm skeptical. Most high-end pre/pros offer differential balanced output to the amps that may not be available with low-end pre/pros, and that can be important if you value short speaker leads that require long runs from pre/pro to amps.

Then there's room correction, but I think the Integra 80.2 offers SOTA room correction.

In my case, I used analog to get around a bug in the pre/pro that prevents bass management with PCM from SACDs -- the speakers I now use don't need to be augmented by subs even for low pedal notes from a pipe organ. But balanced stereo from an Oppo BDP-95 is something to behold, so I'm likely to stick with analog.

db

interesting thread. if i understand the op's question, it's not whether a $7k levinson or cary will sound better than, say, a $1.5k onkyo; rather it's whether the sonic improvement is cost-effective. that, necessarily, is a very subjective determination. personally, i don't watch a lot of action movies or multichannel dvd concerts; for my usual diet of "pawn stars" and nfl i'm okay with my lesser denon/integra gear. the other consideration is that however much their makers claim that they're "future-proof", pre/pros probably depreciate and become obsolescent faster than any other component. i see an awful lot of once-sota pre/pros listed here for a tiny fraction of their original price. ergo, if you're not determined to have the latest-and-greatest codecs and gizmos, you can get some great bargains.