Hello all. I currently am working with a client that we all love to have. He trusts me profoundly and I respect that trust and spend alot of time making decisions about his theater that are bennifical to him. Currently we are looking to upgrade his receiver which is not at all getting the job done. He has a pair of B&W Nautalus 802's, an HTM1, and 4 SCM1's. We are going to use 7 stereo amps one dedicated for each speaker in a bi-amp configuration, but I am looking for a suitable preamp. Currently we are looking at the Anthem AVM20, and the new Lexicon MC-8. Are there any other pre/pro's that I should consider? Thanks for the help.

Krell Showcase

With that gear, where did you come up with 5k for a Pre/pro? Just pick a random low number?

The Showcase is a good product, but the HTS7.1 is much better and more flexible. Theta CasaBlanca II (or CasaNova is Budget really is a factor) is anotehr fine choice.

agreed Impaqt I like the casanova as well. Its a great budget piece.

I have worked with both. The Krell sounds great and is far more stable than the Theta Casanova. We used to have a lot of problems with the theta freezing up. The Krell is also upgradable unlike the Theta which needs seperate boxes to accomplish any further channel upgrades. They both have very good setup features though the Krell is a lot more intuative. I do think the sound is better on the Casanova. But all things considered I really would buy the Krell myself if given the choice. Less headache to deal with and as a custom installer I think I speak for us all this is a good thing!
jc

Integra has a new preamp/processor plus 7 channel power amp for $5K.

Please elaborate.

Tom are you a dealer? We are but have not yet recieved our units. Have you seen them up close ? If so what did you think ?

I have dealt with the Theta Casablanca II and I'm not overy impressed but it could have been the rest of the system. The random low number BTW came from me who decided that I didn't want to spend as much on the pre/pro as the amps as I feel the amps are more important than the the pre at this point. I will take a look at the Krell though, as it is easy for me to get a hold of one. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sounds like hes going to Bi-AMp each speaker. One channel for High, one channel for Low.

Should sound great with the B&W's



----------------------------------------------

We also go the new Integra Pre/Amp combo in the other dy, I havent had a chance to run it through its paces yet, but will report when I do.

Don't forget, doesn't matter how good the power amps are, they can't improve the quality of the signal they get from the pre-amp. Try to balance the quality of both. Personally, I'd put equal (if not more) priority on the performance of the pre-amp, as I would on the power amps.

Same philosophy applies all along the signal route really, no amount of money spent on good amps/speakers is going to get back signal lost by a poor quality source.

I can see a budget in many circumstances, I'd be curious to know what "7 AMps" you are using in this situation.

You 5K preamp barely covers the price of one of his main speakers.

The amps will be 7 Anthem MCA 20's I forgot to mention that I would like the preamp to have balanced outputs as some of the amps will be pretty far away from the preamp.

Have you looked at the Fosgate Audionics FAPT1? It is in the price range you want and the sound is excellent for both movies and music.
[Link: fosgateaudionics.com]

How about the Sunfire Theater Grand III? Its very nice![Link: sunfire.com]