Diminishing Returns In A Hi-End Preamp/Processor?

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.

I think it matters a lot what your video habits are and how much importance you assign to the sound in those situations. I agree with Loomis that if you're watching a lot of "Pawn Stars" and the like, it won't make any difference. If, on the other hand, you watch a lot of big-production Blu-Ray movies, you might care more about the sound. Even so, I would expect the amps, speakers, subs and room treatment to make a much bigger difference for cinematic audio than the pre-pro.

In my case, I have a tiny house and share my system for 2-channel and 5.1, so I thought it was worth spending more to buy an Anthem (AVM 50v). However, if I had a separate HT rig, I'd probably buy a $1500 processor (unless it was a full-on custom big-buck home theater situation)

Can anyone comment on the Analog bypass of the Integra 80.2,80.3 or Onkyo 5508 pre's. I love the way my current Avthem AVM 20 handles the stereo XLR and analog 5.1 inputs from my Oppo 95, but I would love to update to room correction but not at the cost of musical performance!

I confess that I inverted the question in my initial response. Based on my experience in multichannel and especially Anthem units the answer is absolutely yes there is a sonic difference between a $1,500 prepro and the D2v specifically. There's also a difference with the 50v, which is what I chose. The soundstage, clarity, ambiance, panning of sound and sheer dynamic impact are all different. If you are decoding in the Anthem there is yet more of a difference.

So in my opinion and experience, the multichannel experience improves in spades. It absolutely improves in spades (and granular configuration flexibility). The Anthem, for example allows you to specify direct or nipple for rears and surrounds, my Marantz (in my second theater) doesn't. My Anthem allows for more granular crossover and bass management settings and more advanced room correction than my Marantz. The soundstage, imaging, and dynamics are better on my Anthem.

The more expensive you get (in theory) the better the two channel and multichannel performance will be. If you look at the differences between the D2v and AVM50v it's not in the video but rather all in the audio. It's in te DACs and analog stage and A/D converters.

So if, for example I'm feeding analog multichannel or digital sources into the D2v then I should get better audio on all fronts. Is there a difference between my Oppo analog and Anthem decoding? You bet!

So if multichannel audio is important to you for music or movies you get better multichannel performance and control with more expensive. PrePros. The D2v?... It's a special product.

Jdub,

Analog Direct kills the digital cross-over and directs all bass to the main speakers. The Pure Audio (sic?) mode kills all video DSP. The idea is to re-create a minimalist 2 channel high-end system.

I found that it works pretty well. However, your main speakers must have sufficiently wide bandwidth (or your preferred program material must have sufficiently limited bandwidth) to justify killing the subwoofers or this mode will probably make little sense (to me anyway). If the bottom octaves don't matter - for either of those reasons - then it comes down to Audyssey or no Audyssey. I like the former in most every set-up that I've heard, but YMMV.

When I was comparing more expensive and less expensive pre-pros, I suspect that the performance of the DSP software dominated my own evaluation of the listening experience. I preferred Audyssey XT32 to "lesser" Audyssey versions, but not dramatically. The Meridian and Anthem alternatives did sound a bit different from high-end Audyssey equipped models, but in both cases, I found the delta pretty subtle.

My take-away: spend up for the XT-32, but not more than that.

As always, YMMV.

Marty