First Separates Purchase, HELP!

[Side99]

New here to posting and new go building a decent HT setup. Would definitely appreciate any help/opinions along the way.

Current setup:
Focal 814v fronts
Focal 814v cc center
BIC 62dvsi rears
HSU vtf2 mk3
Onkyo 605 AVR (90wpc)
Uverse receiver/PS3 sources
Pioneer 5080 pdp

Room size is effectively 20'x45' (roughly 20'x20' living room open into kitchen/dining area)

Planned upgrades:
Rears, AVR -> Separates, Panasonic 65: vt25

I recently purchased the Focals and love their sound (why I picked them after auditioning others in the range.. although definitely not an exhaustive search) but I demoed them with higher powered receivers and with a Parasound 5125. On the amp they "opened up" and a lot more detail/clarity so thats definitely the route I want to go.
Unfortunately my AVR doesn't have pre outs so I have to replace everything. I was only planning on spending around $5-700 there but guessing I'll have to raise that a bit to get what I want.

In what I've looked at, Emotiva and Parasound could be options (especially if I buy used). I also considered updating the receiver as the pre and just getting the amp.

If you couldn't tell.. I'm a bit lost.. haha

 

[sharkman]

Getting a reliable pre-pro that's not expensive is going to be the trick, it would be much easier to get a receiver and build from there as you suggested. The Onkyo 708 would be one suggestion as that is where 7.1 pre-outs start for Onkyo. They give good bang for buck, but I'm sure there are other brands. On second thought, try to find a 707. It'll be much cheaper since it's being replaced by the 708, maybe 550.

I've got some Emotiva products and have been quite happy with them, so again going with the bang for buck idea, the XPA-5 would make those Focals sing, with 200 watts by 5. I've got the XPA-3, and those amps are well designed and do not run hot or even warm unless seriously cranked. So far we're talking about 750 for the amp and 550 for the receiver, 1300. Rear speakers shouldn't be a problem for Focal but I'm not sure what you mean by the Panasonic 65, a blu ray player? Not sure what the vt25 is either, excuse my ignorance!

But for not much over 2000 you should be set, happy hunting.

 

[Side99]

Thanks for the reply Shark,

The Panasonic vt25 is their new line of Plasma televisions (that support 3D), the 65 was in reference to the size of the screen (65"), sorry that one wasn't labeled well.

I borrowed a Yamaha htr-5960 AVR from my father (he recently updated to a Marantz 7002) to test out the higher wpc (110 vs 90 on my current AVR) and it also has the preouts so I can play with that a bit to see what I like.

Any other recommendations for mid level AVRs with preouts that I could incorporate or pre/pro?

 

[sharkman]

Well, every brand has the 7.1 outputs at some point, but I'm not as familiar with which models they start at. I wouldn't hesitate to suggest Denon, though they would cost more. The marantz line focuses most on sound quality at the expense of features, so the Audyssey version might not be as good, plus they apparently can't apply processing to pcm input.

I don't have experience with Yammy or Pioneer, but I'd stay away from new Pioneer since they recently re-organized and apparently their stuff took a step downwards.

 

[AVRat]

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66115

 

[sharkman]

There you go, the Denon 3310 is another option, though as I've said, it's probably pretty expensive, so it depends on your budget. I see another poster also suggested Onkyo for you.

If you want to get a little bit decadent, there are some Pre-amp processors that might suit you, like the Integra models or Onkyo(same company) though they'd be closer to 2000. I think one Integra model is around 1300, but it would be harder to find.

It all depends on what you're willing to spend, but for a first dive into separates, an avr with pre-outs is a great start.