A/V Processor and Amp for B&W speakers?

Hi Tim,

Thats a great shopping tip, I’ve received a refund once from B&H by asking if they would honor the sales price for something I had recently bought, but I’ve never proactively requested this info.

Monoprice have a very well defined policy, they do honor post purchase sales prices from their own store, but it’s only within 7 days of purchase and excludes certain events like black Friday and cyber Monday.

Call me tight but I’m just gonna hold off till thanksgiving in the off chance something comes up on sale.

kevin

Ok, I’m back!

I was set on getting an Outlaw 976 and Monolith 5X, however I just had an unpleasant experience dealing with Outlaw and so back looking at other processor options including second hand options. Budget $1,000 to $1,500, must have’s are 4K HDR capabilities, balanced XLR output. Sound wise as I mainly use the system for TV and movies I’m looking for both clarity and a dynamic sound.

Comments on Emotiva XMC-1 above suggest it’s sound is a step down from an Outlaw, plus I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews regarding Emotiva?

Second hand, what about a Marantz AV 7705 or the older 7704?

Looking at Anthem AVM 60 second hand also, but I think I'll struggle to get on of those within budget.

Regarding the amp, still happy with the Monolith choice, hopping to get a refurbished item (5X or 7X), but also looking for a second hand Rotel RMB1585, but they seem quite scarce.

The Marantz processors are quite excellent, especially for the money you spend. It definitely is a "mass market" item, but it's engineered well with excellent power supplies and analog circuits.  It's also the only "consumer level" item with discrete analog output stages.  Marantz and Outlaw both have a slightly warm voicing with slightly rolled off high frequencies.  The Marantz would have better bass however, because power supply is much bigger.  You can also go back as far as AV 7702 MKII if you wanted.  They all use the same power supply and analog circuits.  The newer models only have additional bells & whistles plus maybe newer HDMI support.  You might have trouble finding a used Marantz for as cheap as a "new" Outlaw.  However, it's definitely going to be much less than $2k.

There’s an Anthem MRX 720 being sold here as demo from dealer with full warranty for $1799.  Unless you’re looking for a warmer sound like Marantz this is a very nice option.  Best of luck. 

Ok, in doing a lot of digging around and looking at second hand prices I included Yamaha CX-5100 & 5200 in my searching (based on some other Audiogon threads) and stumbled upon a CX-A5000 for $550 (just over $600 including shipping), after looking at reviews and forum comments I pulled the trigger. Seems like a decent price to me, it doesn’t come with a setup microphone though so I need to find the right one as it seems there’s a few different versions out there. I’ll contact Yamaha but any advice on this and setup welcomed.