Any Home Theater Experts here?


My home theater setup right now is a Sony DA777ES 5 channel receiver that I'm using as a processor; and it is also driving my two rear speakers. The center speaker is being driven by a Bryston monoblock and the fronts by a Gamut D200 amp. The front speakers and center are Verity Parsifals. The surrounds are Mirage Omnis. My home theater is also connected to my Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamplifier which I can switch to bypass mode whenever I want to listen to two channel.

My question is: I can understand that for 2 channel listening with a seperate good preamp, I could hear soundstaging, detail, musicality etc, but what should I expect the improvement be if I replaced my Sony receiver with a dedicated home theater processor like the Outlaw model 990?

I would be using it mainly for watching movies since I only listen to 2 channel when listening to music. I'm using my Sonic Frontiers preamp for 2 channel, which I assume is better than the Outlaw in this application.

Experts, pls. advise on if it's worth replacing my Sony receiver/processor for a dedicated home theater processor like the Outlaw model 990. Will I enjoy movies more, or not really?
royy

Showing 1 response by cytocycle

When I only had one rig I replaced my Sonic Frontiers with an EAD Signature with no loss in sound quality for 2 channel plus in balanced mode it used 4 DAC's which is amazing for 2 channel audio if you just have a transport. I still have the EAD signature in my video system and had to spend 4x the price beat it. Make sure the EAD signature has the rowland style faceplate or at an angle. The original 5.1 versions versus the 8000 or 8800 sounds better for 2 channel but lacks Dolby II.

I would not do the ACT 3 as technology has moved on... I would do a Denon 3806 with room correction and keep you current Preamp. The 3806 has HDMI video switching with upconverting so one less thing to cable and deal with. Plus you wouldn't have to buy another amp. There is a audio mic for setup too...