Sunfire Theater Grand ll

Sorry. Previous post should begin: "I lived with . . ."

I liked with the TG II for nearly a month and used it mostly for 2 channel. I was pleasantly surprised with the phono section. I use an Oracle Premier IV special edition table with an SME 3009 arm and Ortofon 5000 MC cartridge with a transformer step up. (I took care to break in the main areas of the preamp with 24hr x 7days of classical FM.) The noise level on the phono section seem very good, and it reproduced a detailed representation that rivals many tube preamps I am familure with. I couldn't tell any difference between the Sunfire's dacs and those in my Denon 5000 dvd player. Ultimately, for me, I think the Meridian trifield and digital processing system may be superior for not much more money. Still, I could live with the Sunfire. The remote is a dream to use and integrates easily and well with video and cd/dvd equipment. My family loved its looks. You have to agree it looks superior to Meridian stuff.

For what its worth, I got the Sunfire TGP2 and I LOVE IT! It has great 2ch sound, very clean and warm with beautiful depth. I am using am MSB Link DAC3 w/ upsample chip from my Marantz 6000OSE CD transport which was definatly better than running the CD from its digital out to the Sunfire digital in. The digital setup was a little harsh without as much detail (but still nice). I attribute this mostly to the jitter reduction process in the MSB DAC. But, I must say this preamp is very well designed (work of art!) and the overall performance is everything I hoped it would be! Bob Carver did a great job! p.s- I forgot to mention that this thing does an incredible job with movies!

I auditioned the sunfire theater grandII and listened to it in two channel mode and thought it sounded flat and muffled, was not impressed for the price range. I also auditioned a conrad johnson pfr preamp that was so superior, i was amazed at the difference. All the advice you see about going with a combo system for the best musical sound is correct, use an inexpensive ht receiver and connect it to a preamp with ht loop.

Thanks guys that was great feedback!

I upgrade from Version I to Version II six month ago. I feel Sunfire Theater Grand II is excellent in 2 channel music as well as for movie. It is a big improvemnet over the Version 1. In two channel stereo mode it make you feel like your center speaker and surround speaker is working too. Vocal is right as from the center speaker.

Furthermore, if you are using digital output of you dvd or CD player, you can save money by using the internal D/A converter of the Pre/Pro rather than buy an external one or buy an expensive CD player with excellent D/A converter. I am using a SONG DVP-300.

I pair my Sunfire Theater Grand II with 6 channel AMP from ADA PTM-6150 and Definitive Technology BP-30, LRC-2000 (Bi-amp & Bi-Wire), BPX, and PF-1500. Interconnect is JPS Supercondustor 2, speaker wire Tributaries SP-5 (bi-wire), Audio Power power conditioner.

I can improve the dept of stereo sound more by purchase another Amp and bi-amp my front BP-30.

Manuel

I don't have any personal experience with the Sunfire unit, but have read several very positive reviews and can't imagine it's not at least "good" with 2ch music. I think it's when you want it to be "great" that you might run into problems. "Great" tends to cost a lot of money, as we all know, so ultimately upgrading the pre/pro in the pursuit of great sound may not be that daunting a proposition. No question, with the technological advances in progress and on the horizon, HT in particular is an area that you have to expect to upgrade on a fairly regular basis

All that said, I agree with Tim's advice on the HT-pass-through functionality as a practical way to use one system effectively for two different purposes - he's given you good advice in that regard, since the approach offers the most flexibility down the line. However, as much as I love great audio performance for music, I love it for movies as well, and I'd be willing to bet that a lower-cost Denon receiver for HT will be markedly less performing, and therefore less enjoyable, than the Sunfire for movies and I personally wouldn't be willing to make that sacrifice permanently. You don't give a lot of context for your question, and budgets etc. factor in a great deal, so if it was part of a bigger plan, an affordable Denon A/V receiver coupled with a nice two-channel preamp with HT pass-through might be an excellent start, but if you're really into doing HT right, you're going to want something better than the Denon long-term. -Kirk

If you're serious about 2-channel I'd recommend getting a decent Denon receiver for surround processing and use a higher-end 2-channel preamp with a home theater pass-through for stereo listening. The home theater pass-through will allow you to seemlessly integrate the receiver with the stereo preamp so you don't have to worry about volume matching issues. This combo will give you better 2-channel performance for less cost than a pre/pro and reduce your risk of obsolescence as the new formats evolve over the next year or two and prices come down. When you're ready you just swap out the Denon instead of having to buy an expensive new pre/pro, and you can still use the 2-channel preamp for critical stereo listening.

I don't buy the upgrade thing with so much up in the air right now--it'll probably cost a lot to upgrade a pre/pro and there are likely to be compromises even if you do upgrade because they can never forsee everything. Upgradeability has not historically been a strength of the audio industry and I wouldn't put my money on it this time either.

Some recommendations for stereo preamps with an HT pass-throughs are: Adcom GFP-750, McCormack RLD-1, Sonic Frontiers, Rogue, Conrad-Johnson, and PSE. If you want to enjoy movies but are more serious about 2-channel I think this is the best sounding, most cost-effective and lowest risk option. Best of luck.

Tim