new reciever/pre-pro

[thegreenline]

Finally finished my family/HT room addition, have been working on the audio upgrade. So far I have replaced a pair of Klipsch Heresey fronts with a pair of AV123 Rocket 750's, a Denon 33f turntable w/ a Grado Sivler cart., has been replaced with a Pro-Ject Xperience w/ a Sumiko Blue Point No.2 cart.and a Pro-Ject Phono Bos SE, I also replaced my old 2nd gen.(bought in 1999) with an Oppo 981 DVD player.
The rest of my equip. is as follows:
Klipsch RC-35 center ch.
Klipsch RS-35 surrounds
Klipsch RSW-10 sub
A Sony C77ES CD player has a digital out so I may one day add an outboard DAC.
I have a Denon 2802 rcvr which I want to replace next. Trying to decide between Denon's 2808CI, 3808CI, Cambridge Audio's 640R or Emotiva LMC-1/LPA-1 Pre-Pro. The Denon's have more features than the CA and Emotiva. My local dealer carries the Denon and CA they like the CA. But it's hard to beat the Emotiva's price 899 for both

Appreciate any thoughts or ideas

Thanks thegreenline (Ron)

 

[adk highlander]

As a person who went from a receiver to separates I really like the added headroom with the external amp. I would also say that you may want to lean in that direction with those rockets. From what I have read they take a bit more power to get the best out of them. Combining them with a very efficient speaker like the Klipsch could take some tweaking to get them all to work well together. The 3808ci would probably handle this ok but an LPA-1 may do it better.

What other features are you looking for from the new receiver?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The Denon 2808 is $1,200?
I would rather get the Onkyo 875 for $1,300:
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR875-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000OBLARW/ref=sr_du_1_map_tlink?ie=UTF8&qid=1195502170&sr=8-1

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/2461/onkyo-tx-sr875-av-receiver.html

 

[Gimpy Ric]

January brings all kinds of new goodies from Emotiva as far as amps and prepro's go. Wait for the LMC-2, its going to be killer. If I don't buy that, I'm getting an MMC-2.

Emo also has speakers and subs now. Emotiva website has the speakers and sub on the first page.

 

[Seth=L]

The Denon 2808 is $1,200?
I would rather get the Onkyo 875 for $1,300:
http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR875-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000OBLARW/ref=sr_du_1_map_tlink?ie=UTF8&qid=1195502170&sr=8-1

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/receivers/2461/onkyo-tx-sr875-av-receiver.html

Or if scaling is not needed go for the TX-SR805, as it is pretty much the same receiver minus the scalers and maybe a few other minor features. I wouldn't think a power difference would be noticable if there even is one (the specs say they have different power, but they each weigh the same).

If an HD player is in the mix, I would skip getting a receiver with a scaler.

Edit: I see the OP has an Oppo 981. That is a very competent upscaling player. There may be little difference between its scaler and the one in the receivers performance wise. Not enough in my opinion to merit spending $400-500 more on the TX-SR875.

 

[cbraver]

What's your budget?

As a person who went from a receiver to separates I really like the added headroom with the external amp. I would also say that you may want to lean in that direction with those rockets. From what I have read they take a bit more power to get the best out of them. Combining them with a very efficient speaker like the Klipsch could take some tweaking to get them all to work well together. The 3808ci would probably handle this ok but an LPA-1 may do it better.

What other features are you looking for from the new receiver?

I agree that the Rockets would really come alive with seperates. I've really fallen in favor of seperates also, the pre-amp to ampilifers situation does so much more than a receiver. Consumer pre-amps mixed with pro-sound amps is the best budget system setup out there. Not to mention, vinyl sounds so good when it is on steroids!!! I agree with adk highlander, focus on getting some power! Wake those neighbors up!

 

[rnatalli]

It comes down to budget and features. I have the UL combo from Emotiva and love it. I too am looking forward to the LMC-2 and MMC-2 because of the added features. Something to keep in mind is Emotiva's upgrade options. 40% discount on upgrades to new processors, yum!

 

[Seth=L]

It comes down to budget and features. I have the UL combo from Emotiva and love it. I too am looking forward to the LMC-2 and MMC-2 because of the added features. Something to keep in mind is Emotiva's upgrade options. 40% discount on upgrades to new processors, yum!

Note: Many mid-fi receivers can be just as useful as a seperate pre/pro working as a preamp. They often have more features per dollar even if they didn't have the amplifier built in. Combine a receiver like the Onkyo TX-SR705, the Yamaha RX-V661, or any similarly priced late model receiver from Pioneer Elite, Denon, or Harman Kardon (there are other options as well), with an Emotiva amplifier like the LPA-1.

If you can wait for the LMC-2, which I believe will have HDMI 1.3 built in with the appropriate decoding for HD audio formats, then go for it. But if you can't wait and don't foresee changing much in the next couple years get a receiver that has the HDMI features you need or plan to use in the future by getting a receiver and possibly adding an amplifier down the line.

The Onkyo TX-SR805 presents a pretty outstanding value and would no doubt make the Rockets perform quite well. It has a lot of power for a receiver in this budget bracket, certainly more than any competitor is offering in terms of receivers at this moment. Will the TX-SR805 contend with the LPA-1 amplifier in terms of power?, most likely not. Will the Rockets sound better connected to a more powerful amplifier?, possibly. How much difference a seperate amplifier makes largely depends on your listening habits.

I have no doubt that the TX-SR805 could push the Rockets to levels of output that would make you uncomfortable without sounding very strained. The real world issue that comes into play is dynamics. The receiver isn't going to be able to have the same dynamic impact that the LPA-1 amplifier can deliver. The receiver may run out of headroom, and you may not notice it is doing this until you upgrade to a power amplifier. You may not notice it if you don't listen to music or watch movies at high levels of output.

I think that about covers it.