Suggestions for new AV Pre-Pro

Sounds like a plan. As I said, I was very close to getting it but at the time $6,000 was a lot and the dealer I went too really did not move that much. I ended up with a Parasound Halo 2 and it served me well for many years. Now I have the Integra and I am again a happy camper and probably will be for a number of years.

Ron, I think you know me from AVS :). I bought the Integra 80.2 a few months ago. I can recommend it very highly. Plus the 80.3 should be coming out probably in a few months. As you know I have the 1027's cc1000be, 705v's. I was told by some one that the Cary was not that reliable. I say go for the Integra.

Back when someone told me about the Cary, he made it seem like the end of the world would happen. He was basically saying that they had a QC issue. Then I started to realize that people were saying the 80.2 was sooooooo bad. It was so noisy and it had a huge delay at so much other stuff. Well, I can say that there are many anal people in audio because I notice the clicks when you change inputs and there may be a delay, but I don't find it to be an issue. If the Cary is simply like that then I have no problem saying go with that. All of the reviews I have read about it have been stellar.
That being said, in my system with an OPPO 82SE connected with a Transparent Audio HDMI cable connected to the 80.2, I am very pleased with the sound. 2ch in bypass mode sounds really good. But like I said, all of the reviews I have read of the Cary were very good as well.

Not to mention HT also sounds very good.

That's cool. I understand what you want. Like I said, the reviewes I read of the Cary were very positive. Besides being scared off by the bugs, there is not a dealer near me who carried the brand. So I took a chance on the Integra. I have been very satisfied and my system has never sounded better. I know your Sim kicks butt because I have heard them before. For me though, I am also into records now and the Integra does not even come into play for that. I have an Amadeus GTA table with a Dynavector preamp. It sounds simply fantastic. Good luck with your system :).

Man, if you can get that I would pounce right away. I heard one a few years and thought it was fantasic. But at the time the price was too high. Fantastic for HT and 2ch. The only thing is it does not have all the latest connections and it won't decode the high def audio formats. At least that's what I remember. Since you will be using the analog outs it might be a great fit for you. It will be a great pre for you if you can make it work in your system, IE have the player do the decoding and if you don't need HDMI. I was going to recomend that to be honest but I was not sure it would fit your price range. It will be hard to beat that IMO.

When I heard the 600 I also hear the classe amps. It was with B&W speakers though, not focal. Plus, it was in a big room with the bigger amps. But they did sound good. It will probably be a different sound then the Sim. I think though even with the Classe being 100 watts it won't be a problem as far as output goes. Yes the Focal's dip in impedence but the sensitivity is not that bad. The Classe probably outputs a bit more then 100 watts in the real world. Most amps do. My Brystons do and most other amps like Krell, and parasound do as well. The question is will it be better. That I can't say. I know from your posts that you like the sound. It will sound different for sure. Based on what you say about your listening habits I don't think the 100 watts would be an issue. The issue is if it is a good match.

I don't know how sneaky you want to be but there is a store in Delaware named Overture Audio.
http://www.overtureaudiohometheater.com/
They sell Classe and Focal. You could always ask them. Again, it may be sneaky if you plan on buying from some place else but it may be worth contacting them with a general type feeler question.

I could tell that the Classe gear was top shelf. That's why I wanted that pre :). I am not a huge B&W fan and they were using the top of line Diamond tweeter speakers. It sounded very clinical. When they put the regular 800's on the system it sounded better. For two channel the 600 really was very good. HT was very good as well. Like I said, even though I am not a B&W fan, the system still sounded very good. I think with the Focal speakers the 600 will be a great choice.

That 100 watt amp will probably be fine. the specs say that it can give 190 watts into 40ohm's. To me that says it has very good power supply. Plus I just read that the first 30 watts of that amp are Class A. That is quite a lot and I know that Focal speaker just love Class A power. With 30 watts of Class A power you should be fine.

That should be 4ohms not 40ohms.