The audio quality of the Krell S1200 is going to be significantly superior to anything the Yamaha will be able to produce. I own the S1200 and have auditioned many other HT processors. However, there are some quirks in the S1200 that you’ll have to live with if you want to go this route.
- Krell has unstable audio (cannot lock onto audio or audio with beeps/clicks) when decoding compressed DD/DTS using "HDMI A" mode. This can be worked around by setting up another input that uses "HDMI S" mode. "HDMI A" mode must be used when decoding DTS-HD or TrueHD bluray sound. However, be aware that blurays will typically have the previews and menu audio output using compressed Dolby Digital. I usually use a "HDMI S" input when I first put a bluray in. When I click on "Play movie" from the menu, I immediately switch to the "HDMI A" input.
-Krell has bugs in "DTS-HD MA 48k 5.1/7.1" mode (which is what most blurays use). The dynamic range compression is applied even though the menu settings indicate it is off (Krell has 2.0 patch for this). Also, Krell ignores any crossover settings for speakers and plays each speaker at full range (i.e. even though fronts may be set to 80Hz). The ".1" LFE channel still works correctly. Krell does not have any patch for this at this time.
Krell has no problem with the "96k DTS-HD" mode (but this isn’t used by movies).
You can avoid both of the problems above by configuring your Panasonic bluray player to output PCM for all audio (instead of bitstream). Krell S1200 has no problem handling 5.1 PCM and the sound will still be superior to the Yamaha CXA5100. However, the Krell has a very slight improvement in sound quality when decoding DTS-HD/TrueHD when compared to 5.1 PCM. However, it’s still leaps and bounds above the Yamaha.