Need help in picking a good preamp/processor

Anthem avm-2 or 20 depending on budget. Will sound better, have better displays and be more flexible than the act 3 (in my opinion).

imo, the greatest bargain in the upper high end for a pre/dac is the boulder 1012 (plus, you get a very good phono stage). it's what i use for my digital side, which also includes an mbl transport and nagra vpa monoblocks.

Ramesh,

I am very pleased with my Proceed PAV/PDSD. They serve as the preamp/processor for a Proceed Amp 2 and Amp 3 that drive a pair of KEF 104/2s, KEF C 200, and a pair of KEF 102/2 surrounds. All biwired. A Velodyne HGS-15 takes everything below 80 Hz.

The sound is open and transparent, with a large soundstage and precise imaging.

Reviews suggest a Krell HTS would be a good choice also. Either the Proceed or the Krell would be a cost effective solution to excellent stereo and 5.1 sound.

db

I will chime in with the B&K REF 50.

All,

Thanks again for all your help. It is great to know that I have so many choices. I am familiar with all of the choices except boulder and Anthem. I will learn about them before making my choice.

Donbellphd,

Thanks for the specifics on Proceed/Krell. How would you compare PAV/PDSD with AVP? Do yuo think the D/A and Analog 2ch performance between PAV/PDSD and AVP are similar or is one significantly better than the other?

Also how do you compare Classe SSP50 with PAV/PDSD or HTS?

Based on the original prices I notice that PAV/PDSD is 1.5 to two times as much as the other two. HTS and SSP50 seem to be around same price range. Do you thing I should read more into the price difference or it is just an artifact of two box vs. one box solution?

Regards
Ramesh