Anthem vs Krell vs Meridian

I have a similar system as you. I used to have Focus 20/20s, but now use Whispers. Everything else is Legacy for surround as well as the subs. Even my source is an Upgrade Company improved DV-50. I think I have a pretty good idea how resolving your system is from my own experience.

With this in mind, I have more food for thought for you - The Krell HTS 7.1 has only one multi-channel input and it is a pass-through only with not even level adjustments. It does however do level adjustments, bass management and time alignment through the digital inputs.

Why do I mention this you might ask...?

I bring this up because although the new generation of blu-ray players has digital audio outputs [either coax or HDMI] the analog outputs are a huge improvement due to their higher resolution. My local A/V store did a demo for me with an HTS 7.1 and a blu-ray player, the difference in audio via coax and analog was gigantic [analog being the clear winner – pun intended]. This improvement is much more significant than the image quality improvement yielded from the Blu-ray disk...IMO.

What surprises me the most is that the Sony BDP-S1 I have sitting on my shelf right now for demo purposes has no adjustments [level control, time alignment, and bass management] from either its digital or analog outputs. This is something that your DV-50 does have to a limited degree…at least it has level adjustments for its multi-channel outputs. For me, this player is a no-go for this and some other reasons not related to this thread.

Thus, all this adds more complication if you "want it all." Not only might you have two multi-channel sources [the DV-50 for DVD-A/SACD multi-channel audio AND a new Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD], but if you need to adjust anything with the multi-channel pre-amp, then the HTS 7.1 isn't for you from a feature standpoint.

Also, HDMI connectivity should be seriously looked at, not for video, but higher resolution audio. This is something I really don’t know much about though, but could help to replace those multi-channel analog inputs for the newer sources. I believe there is a newer HDMI standard for these higher resolutions that are available with HD-DVD and Blu-ray, or will be some time in the near future.

I am sorry if I am confusing matters. It is all rather confusing even to me.

Dbld, sorry about the lack of clarity on my post.

It was the Krell at $3999. Maybe it was the showcase.

I would guess you have the krell processor that was retailing at $8,000 at that time. If thats the case it should perform more then a $3,000 processor.

For 2 channel the D1 and avm20/30 sounds close from what I gathered. I was going to upgrade to the D1 so I asked several D1 owners who replaced their avm20. None of their responses concluded it was much different in two channel. My salesman also said the same thing.

Michaelmk,

Is your MC system 7.1? Or do you plan to go to 7.1 at some point? If so, then you'll want to have DPLIIx and / or Logic 7.

Krell PrePros only have DPLII, not DPLIIx, and DPLII only suppports 5.1.

AFAIK, the other PrePros mentioned have DPLIIx, or in the case of Lexicon both DPLIIx and Logic 7.

FWIW, I evolved from 5.1 to 7.1 and found 7.1 provides a much better surround envelopment.

Thanks
Bruce

Bruce - the Krell HTS absolutely does support 7.1, even through the analog inputs, just not DPLIIx. It does Dolbly and DTS "ES" processing for the two extra surround channels, plus some other variations for those extra channels...I just don't remember the details.

Freemand – I think you listened to the Showcase. There is a good difference between the showcase and the HTS 7.1...thus the price difference.

FWIW - Krell is supposed to come out with an Evo pre/pro sometime.

Dbld,

As far as I know, there are no 7.1 sources available. The high def DVD specs allow for 7.1, but I'm not aware of any 7.1 discs having been released.

From the information on the Krell website, I don't know how Krell PrePros can take a 2.0, or 5.1, or 6.1 input and generate a 7.1 output. DPLIIx and Logic 7 have a proven capability to do that.

By 7.1 output, I'm not referring to sending a mono signal to both rear speakers, or duplicating the side surround signals in the rear surounds. Instead, I mean generating distinct signals (am not saying discrete by the way) to all 4 surround speakers.

Having the ability to accept 7.1 analog inputs is nice, and if / when there are high def DVDs with 7.1 audio, and the players output that over 7.1 analog outputs, then I can see how the Krell PrePros could do 7.1 as a MC preamp. But I'm not aware of any 7.1 analog feeds available today.

There is Krell Music Surround, but I can't tell from the website if that generates 7.1 outputs, and I have not seen any reviews or comments on how well that performs.

Thanks
Bruce