EAD TheaterMaster 8000 8000pro 8800 8800pro and

Wow,you need to look at the EAD website. With the prices being what the are,the 8000 is a great bargin. If you can find a good price,the 8800 will keep you happy for a long time.

The sig8,8000 are close to the same. They have the 8-channel direct. They use the octopus cable to do this.
The 8800 has all the connection on the pre itself,and is a newer version.
The pro models have some spaceage circuitboard and a couple other tweeks. I have the non-pro 8800 and am very happy with it.

Try this page also. http://www.tricell-ent.com/EAD.htm

Enjoy

Tim

avsforum covers these pieces in more detail.

I have had the following in the same system and same room over the past 3 years:

Rotel RSP-980
Anthem AVM-20 v2.1
EAD 8000Pro
EAD 8800
EAD 8800Pro

Of course, many other components in the system changed along the way, too, but there was always a transition period between old & new processors of at least 1 week that I used for comparisons. That did not always allow for a truly fair evaluation because the new units were not fully broken in before the old units got shipped out, but I did get some basic view of the differences/advantages of each.

In any case, I found the EAD's to be really great pre/pro's - better in my situation then each preceeding unit and several notable notches above the AVM-20 in all aspects, both audio and video. You do loose the on-screen menus of the Anthem, but the video quality increase that I noticed with the EAD's was not subtle, so I would never go back now. And it really is no problem once I got used to the difference in operation since the front-panel display is very easy to use and read from a reasonable distance.

The 8800 series also features Dolby ProLogic II, which I didn't really think would be that big of an deal. But in use with satellite TV signals that are not native Dolby Digital, the difference between DPL and DPL2 is very striking. So if you are planning to use this system for video sources, keep that in mind.

The 8800Pro model will give you 8 channels of fully-Balanced outputs, which I must have for the Electrocompaniet amps that I use for all 5.1 channels - including a balanced LFE input on my REL Stadium III subwoofer. But, if you don't have amps/subs/cabling that can take full advantage of balanced connections, I would think the 8800 non-pro model should be a great 'sweet-spot' in the models you have mentioned.

I hope that helps, but YMMV....

Anyone compared the 8800pro with the new Anthem Statement D-1?