Anyone heard the Onkyo sp 1000 yet?

Yes, I think in Lanny's case he did not have an opportunity to listen to both at the same time. But I did momentarily forget that he had at least a chance to hear both in some fashion.

It's a strong case for the Onkyo. As I still have a dedicated 2 channel rig it makes it almost a no brainer, as for MC listening there appear to be very few rivals. How does the SP1000 handle levels, distance, and crossover for both DVD-A and SACD?

Tony,
Back when I bought a 5900, I also bought a 8k pre/pro amp combo to try out multi channel hi rez and made 3 more custom speakers whith Scan speak drivers and all the best parts.
It turned out that after spending over 14k, I preffered most hi rez in 2 channel and ended up with overkill surround H/T speakers.

As far as the hi rez surround control goes, I am probably not the best person to answer this, but you can control over analog, speaker size and distance, and if you use the small setting, your stuck whith 80hz.

Don't know anything about how these settings work whith I link either.

Actually, What HiFi october 04 said that the Onkyo SP1000 and the Merdian G-98 both passed up the DV-50.
It says the Merdian had a slight edge for audio, and the SP1000 had an edge for video and ranked them as so.
Onkyo SP1000 5 and the "real star" of the 3
Merdian G98 5
DV-50 4.5
Basically...they were shocked at how well the Onkyo did for both audio and video.

The Pioneer 59avi and Denon 3910 were placed in a lower tier than the above three players.

FWIW - I have had the Integra DPS 10.5 (very similar to the SP1000), the Meridian G98 and the DV-50 (as well as the DV-50S) all in my system at one time or another over a very short time period.

My observations were somewhat different. I firmly believe you must have a system capable of revealing the differences in order to realize them. I do not claim to understand what makes one system more revealing than another, but I could really tell differences between these three machines (this truly surprised me...especially with the Meridian), and the Integra ranked low for audio in my system. I tried it using all connections available too.

The Integra did have the best PQ though (albeit an A/V sync problem)...and that was quite clear...pun intended. And the build quality of the Integra was equal if not better than the Meridian and the Esoteric too.

Now - The Meridian is a transport only, so it is not really apples to apples. In my system, for CD playback, it was the best I had heard. A very close second was the DV-50 via its analog 2-channel output. Then third...and a distant third to me for audio...was the Integra. The Denon 3910 ranked below the Integra, but that difference was much smaller than the difference between the Integra and the Meridian and Esoteric.

I don't think you can beat the Integra/Onkyo for its price point. I really wanted to keep it, but it is just not in the same league as the Meridian or the Esoteric when it comes to audio.

This is just my observation/opinion in my system.

EARS,
I might read reviews from time to time, but I put absolutely no stock in them anymore whatsoever.
I have bought components that were top rated by the rags, and they absolutely sucked, or did not match up with my other gear.