Amp and Processor

HT

Depending on what wire he has in his system, the Anthem AVM60 might be too fast and too much resolution for the focal.  I have used the Bryston SP3 in my system - uses all discrete Class A analog output stages (just like a high end preamp).  It is very nice, very smooth sound and just about the best and strongest bass I've had out of a HT processor.  However, it was just too laid back in the mids and upper mids for my tastes.  This might match exactly what daj2832 needs because he is complaining that the Focal are too bright and harsh.

That being said, if you are locked onto the Krell Chorus XD amp, the Bryston might not be the best match because the new Krell amps really smooth over the sound and smooth out the high frequencies.  Pairing the Krell XD with Bryston SP3 might be too laid back at this point.  It's difficult to say because system synergy is a weird thing.

I'm in a two channel system now with a PS Audio BHK Preamp, BHK Monoblocks, and Focal Sopra 3s.

The music is bright and disappointing.

Aside f rom that, I'm thinking of going to a Home Theater system with Focal Sopra 2s, Focal Sopra 1s and a Focal Center speaker.

I have to ask why you’d go right back to Sopras after such a disappointing outcome with them in your stereo system because it probably ain’t gonna get better in a HT setting.  There are tons of fantastic speakers at and even below the Sopra’s entry fee, so why the fascination with and devotion to that model?  If it’s me and I’m using the term “bright and disappointing” to describe my system, I’m not walking but running in a very different direction.  My advice would be to go listen to other speaker/systems that don’t sound “bright and disappointing” and move in that direction before even contemplating what prepro/amp to go with.  But that’s me.  Best of luck. 

For the past 15 years, I have been using a Theta Casablanca preamp/processor that I've continually upgraded (now as an IV version) for both watching movies and listening to music.  I, and my audiophile friends, find its performance in my AV system to be fantastic.  However, to be fair, the rest of my components (front end, amps, cables and speakers) are generally of comparable quality.  Two aspects of the Casablanca IV are particularly remarkable: (1) processing of Blu-ray soundtracks; and (2) converting 2-channel audio into 5 (or in my case 7) channel audio, which is by far now my preferred way to listen to music.  Multi-channel audio is grossly, and wrongly, disparaged.  The matrix audio processing of the Casablanca IV simply provides a 3-D dimensionality unachievable by a mere stereo setup -- and without any discernable degradation of the micro-details of the audio performance.  Allow me also to say that the Casablanca IV is a very fine preamplifier and, especially with their "upgraded" boards, an excellent DAC, too.  Moreover, I have three separate DACs incorporated into my system, and the Casablanca IV allows me to switch between them as well to use its internal DAC.

Let me make three other comments.  First, the greatest drawback of the Theta Casablanca IV is its price.  Top quality performance is not cheap, and a newly purchased unit with the best DAC boards installed costs more than $20,000.  Second, what we hear is the aggregate result of a highly complex electronic/electro-mechanical system, not individual components.  How they interact, as well as the room in which they reside, ultimately determines the quality of the sound one hears.  Consequently, achieving "audio nirvana" is a quest involving lots of experimentation.  Sometimes a component which has enjoyed great reviews simply doesn't work well in a person's system.  (That certainly has been my experience, albeit rarely.)  Third, Theta Digital has never abandoned its quest to offer its customers state-of-the-art performance.  At most one can complain (as I have) that they are slow in delivering new enhancements.  Nonetheless, once released, every new feature -- or enhancement of an existing one -- has been great.

In conclusion, I enthusiastically recommend giving a Theta Casablanca serious consideration when upgrading the preamp/processor of one's AV system.