Ease of use, build quality, flexability,upgradeable, made in USA.

none so far.

I made the decision to go with the Ref20 based on a few features I wanted in a pre/pro. 1) Uprgadeability so that as soon as I open the box it's not out dated. 2) Analog-bypass was a must for me, this the B&K does this extremely well. Combined with my Denon DVM3700 and Sunfire CG my system has taken on a whole new life. My NHT VT 2's took on a whole new meaning in sound quality. 3) Ease of use. The B&K is easy to use and set up is not hard if you read the book and do what it says. The sound quality in stereo with analog-bypass is clean and clear, the soundstage is wide and deep. I feel like I purchased a high quality 2 ch preamp with a great surround processor tossed in for free. In short I really enjoy the Ref 20 and have lots of fun with it and after all this is about the fun factor. Plus it's made right here in the USA. So if you are looking for a pre/pre in the $2500 range that will give you great sound reproduction, ease of use, upgradeability, great support, I only had to call B&K a couple times and they provided superior, friendy and knowledgable support the Ref 20 is the way to go. Note: the Ref 30 is soon to be out and the Ref 20 can be had at extremely good prices, read the reviews in this site and you can find Steve of Sound Video, he has posted his # and all the products he carries, he is very knowledgable and is filled with good advice. Gary.

Similar Products Used:

Act 3, Marantz

This is my 3rd preamp in 5 years,and I can honestly say IT IS THE SHIT!!! Dynamicly,ergonomically, and price wise this is the way to go.TIP,if your ref is acting funny,put it in a cooler spot and I bet yah it doesnt act up again.Recently, i purchased an AT1505 and let me tell youwhen I compared it with my previous amp(BK AV5000)the poor little 5000 ,got sold!

Just purchased my B&K Ref 20 (2) weeks ago. I aim using it with an ATI 1505 power amp and Boston's Lynnfield 30s for the mains, Boston VR 10 center and Klipsch 1.5 for the rears. Te B&K made my system come to life, but it did piont out that a sub woofer was needed. So after this purchase I added the Velodyne CT 150 and my whole system is clean, powerful and the stereo imaging is great. If you want a graet pre amp this is it. No frills (like the Yamaha RXV 995 that I returned for this baby).

For a $100.00 dollars more I purchased an additional warranty for 4 more years after the 5 year B&K warranty exspires (Sound Advice, Florida store) for a total of 9 years!

I love it......

Very smooth sound, more than adequate inputs/outputs, excellent build quality

Owners manual is very poor, indicators listed in manual do not show up in system menu....poor final quality checks, unit doesn't respond to remote on occaison, have to input changes directly into REF20.

Factory was very helpful to explain differences manual -vs- menu...also very helpful in understanding system capabilities. I have an outboard D-to-A interfaced to my CD Transport and I wanted to bypass the REF20 internal D-to-A which can be done...only you can't tell how to do that reading the manual...factory knew the answer...very few pre-amp/processors under $4,000 allow bypass of their D-to-A's.
My system:
Cal Audio Labs CD Transport/D-A
REF20
McCormack Amps
Vandersteen 2CE Front Speakers
Vandersteen Center Speaker
B&W Rear Speakers
Vandersteen Subwoofer
Pioneer DVD
Nakamichi Tapedeck

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Denon, Proceed AVP, Sunfire

I've had this pre/pro for a year now and love it. Excellent across the board. I do have a question. A few posts back "Mark from Houston" talked about an update due in early 2000 for 96/24 audio, Cinema Re-EQ, bass management through selectable crossovers, and tone adjustments. I had my dealer call B&K about this and he was told that no updates are planned. Does anyone have any info on this?

Excellent sound, value, and versatile for the money.

Owners manual poorly written.

This is a great preamp processor that gets the job done for your home theater. Ther're many units out that can do this or that, just not everything you may need. Here are some of the strong points of the Ref 20:

Dolby Digital/Prologic/DTS (and few surround modes that aren't so annoying)

Stereo Direct (bypass the internal DA converters on stereo music)

On Screen Display (let's you stop squinting at you preamp, wondering what to do next.

Built In AM/FM Tuner

Dual Zone Outputs (2nd one analog only)

S-Video Inputs(7) Digital Coax.(6) Optical Inputs(5)

Upgradable for future formats(you don't have to throw it away when the next surround system comes along)

There are many other nice features also. Overall I would say the B&K has a warmer sound. Which to me is better than the in your face bright sound you get from units such as:(Sony,Adcom)Ther're plenty of negative comments on the B&K in this site, although I think they were from early production units that had some bugs. I personally haven't any to mention. If you don't have local dealer support I would recommend calling Steve H.(Sound Video) who also has a review posted on this piece. There are others that can better the B&K in my opinion, Just not for $2500.00(list). All the rest in this range are missing something and/or have poor quality sound. Against the Krell and the Proceed It deserves a 4 of 5. I don't rate against products that Are 2X the price or more. Go Ahead, give it a try.....

Similar Products Used:

Acurus,Sunfire,Krell,Proceed,Adcom,Sony,Rotel,Denon Etc.....

I'v just connected a dvd to my B&K and I was amazed!The sound was so good, I can't believe it can go any further then that.
AC-3 sound like heaven and DTS sound even better!
One problem though: I can't leave my living room now!!!
My system:
B&K ref20
Adcom GFA6000 amplifier (soon to be replaced)
Mission 753f front speakers
B&W 601 S2 surround speakers
Paradigm cc350 center speaker
Energy 12es Subwoofer
Sony S7700 dvd/cd player

This message/review is aimed at those who have had problems with the B&K ref.20 unit and are asking what else is out there for about the same price and quality. I reviewed several preamp/processors, including the B&K unit before choosing the Golden Theater GTX-1. The Golden Theater was less expensive, sounded cleaner and has the 24bit/96khz processing for upcoming audio dvds. This is what I found to be the best value. Take a look at the goldentheater.com website. Don't get me wrong, I DID like the ref.20 unit A LOT! ( I didn't have any problems with the ref.20 unit I tried) I give the B&K ref.20 four stars. I liked the Golden Theater GTX-1 enough to give it five stars.

Another great product from B&K!!!

Got the 20 to replace my old B&K 1000 to upgrade to DD and DTS. My old one worked very well so I tried out the 20. Wow, works great. I asked B&K about the problems stated here and I got the deal on it. Before connecting or disconnecting cables from the 20, the unit must be turned off with the switch below the volume control. The off button on the remote only puts the amp in the sleep mode. It does not turn it off. So when the unit is only sleeping and you pull a cable, the auto sensing feature reads the spike caused by the cable pull and confuses the computer. I made sure I only pulled or connected cables to mine while turned off and I have had NO probles at all. In fact, it was fun and easy to set up and wonderful to use and listen to. Everything works very well. I was at first upset that the volume level was displayed on the screen every time the volume was adjusted but I read how to turn it off. This unit runs very cool and looks neat too. I can only highly recomend this preamp/pros/tuner to all.