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The Best New HT Processor

I have considered the Krell Foundation, even more, the Bryston SP3, and the CARY Audio CINEMA 7B. I know there are other good choices out there?

The Bryston SP3 has to be my favourite now, as it has two balanced inputs, and I need two.

I would like to get to the point where I have one box, unlike the past, having several preamplifiers doing multichannel sound.

My price limit is ten grand, and I believe my sell off price will come close to this?

The idea of buying something like this used feels uncomfortable, as it seems, spending over a few grand on anything as potentially finicky as a processor, leaves me feeling lost for personal contact, if I had a problem?

Audio Research is my stereo preamplifier and an older Showcase Krell. One piece of head gear, my Esotreic runs to the ARC, as well my Accuphase, which I really do not want to sell. The Esoteric, being the DV 50S model, it enters the Krell for digital processing and straight analogue for any multichannel SACDs I have.

I have added an Oppo 105D, for Blu-ray, and it would be ideal to have three balanced inputs, yet that is not likely, and it seems the best processors should be able to do as well as the Oppo over HDMI, as it is, whether DTS HD Master is worth having, I do not know?

I am either going to keep the Krell I have or take the plunge and go for a something where I can HDMI the Oppo, use the audio inputs for the Esoteric and the second balanced for the Accuphase, which is a CD player.
ladycharnet
rlwainwright
1,904 posts
 
I realize that this is well below your specified budget, but you should probably take a good look at the Emotiva XMC-1 for $1999. It is a whale of a good processor with state of the art room correction capability using Dirac RCS.

The 5 year warranty and 30 days in-home trial are very nice, too...

https://emotiva.com/products/pres-and-pros/xmc-1

-RW-
dbphd
1,632 posts
 
The problem I have with expensive processors is that, unlike preamps, they tend to become obsolete as new processing technology is developed. So I use an Oppo 105 for processing, and pass through its front LR stereo to the preamp. Surround channels can be taking directly to the amps. If your preamp does not have a by-pass mode, you can mark the point at the volume control where it achieves unity gain using an SPL meter.

The single-ended output of the Oppo is as good as its balanced output, leaving the balanced inputs of the AR preamp available for the Esoteric and Accuphase. I think DTS HD MA is worth having.

db
sebastiensavoie
8 posts
 
You can’t go wrong with the Bryston sp3, outstanding movie track and 2 channel listening, if you have good amplifiers. I was going for a Classe ssp 800 and after research and talking with dealers how carry bot brand I went with the SP3, no regrets. Never herd Krell produck.
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