Ease of use. Quality of Sound. Price.

No balanced inputs/outputs

I highly recommend this product. It has been the center piece of my HT and has performed great.

Has anyone heard when any software upgrades are comming and what they will offer? I would like to hear DPII and possibly HDCD. We'll see.

video source switching, audiostream snooping, DTS decoding, comforting 'click' when sources switch.

User manual could be better.

You should all be proud of that B&K source switch 'click'. It's basically there telling you that these are _really_ discrete channels.

I really enjoy the convienence of the B&K reference 30, I must have dropped 20-30 odd pairs of cables from my previous setup to achieve the same functionality that the B&K gives me, not to mention it makes my old Paradigms light up the room like nothing else (along with the B&K 7250).

I haven't had it very long and I'm still setting it up, for that matter the user manual could have been a bit better, more complex examples, walkthroughs for each component etc.. For the price, a better bound user manual (not the mono-tone photocopy type thing it ships with), heck maybe even a cd-rom should have been included (and maybe the remote control cables too).

It's not a big enough gripe however to cull it's value rating. There's just not much better on the market.

B&K Reference 30
B&K Reference 7250
Toshiba SD-9200
Paradigm monitor 7's CC-350, Titan surrounds, (pws-2200 soon!)
of course, who could live w/o TiVo.

Dynamics, soundstage and life like imaging, great sound,flexibility,good looks,upgradable.

Clicking sound when changing sources, no balanced outputs, but this is minor.

I really like this preamp, like any other B&K product, it is incredible, but not perfect. I like the flexibility of assigning any source to any input, I was not disappointed. I was using a Denon 3300 receiver as a pre-amp into a Rev 7250 Series II (200 X 5). I wondered what the difference would be with a true pre-amp. Wow what a diffence it made. Everything seemed to be much clearer, speaking voices have so much more detail.

Detailed, crisp, clear sound quality. Imaging. Flexibility, upgradeability, bass management.

Have emailed B&K two times and have recieved no response

I first purchased a Sherwood Newcastle r956 home theatre receiver and was pleased, but knew my system could sound
better. It was lacking certain features I wanted (learned of this after the purchase). I have now moved to a
parasound hca-2205at paired with a reference 30 pre-amp/processor. I simply cannot believe the difference in
sound quality when compared to the Sherwood. I have always felt a desire for something more, better sound,
certain features, etc. etc, until I moved to this amp/pre-amp set up. I hooked up the reference 30, turned it on and a smile came to my face right away (even before customizing/adjusting any settings, the sound was awesome). Some of the main features I was looking for (that I did not already have) were: great sound, 7 channel
surround(will play a stereo signal through all (up to) 7 channels with no surround effects), THX certification
(in hopes it was insurance of a quality/good sound producing product), composite video in/out, HDTV compatible/on screen display, bass management, and excellent value. When I first decided to purchase an amp/pre-amp set up I had my doubts as to the value of the return on my dollar. Now I have no doubts and can say it was completely
worth every penny I spent on my system. I dont want to send the wrong message about the Sherwood. It is a great receiver, I was just looking for a little more. I now use it to power my sixth and seventh channels until I purchase another amp.

Similar Products Used:

Sherwood Newcastle r 956 receiver

Too many to list

None (except peoples false preconceptions)

You probably heard my brother, Richard from San Diego (see below), foolishly make a haste judgement on my Ref 30 just by listening to it once for a short period. What he neglected to tell you was that I just had this unit for a few short months and I did not even have a chance to fully tweak my setup to get it to perform to its awesome potential.

First of all, the B&K amp I bought at the same time was not fully broken in and was obviously tighter than usual. I was also using warm-sounding speaker cables that were designed for my previous system to offset its brightness. Well, this does not help since B&K is known for its warm-sounding sound. Lastly when in stereo mode, I forgot to set it back to 2-speaker mode since it defaults 5 speakers speaker stereo! I think critical music listening is best when only the front two speakers are playing.

The Ref 30 is definitely in a class by itself. I purchased this baby last September 2000 and have been in hi-fi heaven since. With its DPL, DD-EX, DTS, THX, component video switching, upgradeability, dual zones, firewire (soon), learning remote and awesome build and sound quality, nothing even comes close - not even the ACT-3.

Equipment:
Mitsubishi 55" widescreen HDTV
Mitsubishi S-VHS VCR
Sony DirecTV satellite receiver (w/ DD output)
Toshiba 5109 progressive scan DVD player
B&K 5125 5-channel amp
Tara Labs interconnects

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No product compares

Sound quality, ease of operation, beautiful music and movie reproduction, visually appealing

None thus far

Before purchasing this processor I did extensive, exhaustive research from every publication I could find. (i.e. audiophile mags, audio review site, friends in the biz, etc) Just about everything I got my hands on praised this unit up and down - so I went to listen. I was fortunate enough to be able to hear it in a set-up very similar to my system - same speakers, cables and CD player. I must have sat there for 3hrs, enraptured. The 2channel stereo reproduction was unrivaled in this price range. I'd listened to pre-amps at 2x this price that I felt didn't have the build or sound quality. Unbelievable imaging and great clarity. When I finally purchased it and got it home I was in for even more of a treat. When paired with the Ref 7260 amp the surround modes for movie reproduction are startling. Unfortunately I'm only running it 3channel right now, as I'm waiting/saving to purchase new front channels (currently using Sonus Faber Concertos for fronts, soon to be made into rears and replaced with the Guarneris). But even in the limited 3channel the sound and imaging are remarkable. I've had people over to watch movies who were startled by the realism. Just about every time I turn this unit on I become more and more enthralled with it - has truly made listening to music and watching movies even more of a thrill than I'm used to. While I don't have tons and tons of experience with this caliber of component I've yet to find any flaws in it's design or sound - and after paying 2K for it I tend to be VERY critical. And as a footnote - I'd read in a few places that the remotes' menu system was somewhat confusing - I find it exceptionally user friendly, just follow the directions in the manual (thk God these people are from Buffalo - no more foreign language based instructions to TRY and decipher), watch the info. on your TV and voila! Simply put and stated.....simply beatiful. I plan on writing an updated review once my surround setup is finished and I've more experience with it in 5.1 and 6.1 modes.

Equipment:
B&K Ref 7260
CAL CL-15 CD
Sony 37" WEGA XBR
Sony DVD
Sonus Faber Concerto
Sonus Faber Solo Home
Velodyne HGS-10
Analysis Plus Oval-9 cables
Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway MKII interconnects

All the latest bells and whistles

Sound not comensurate with price

I went to listen to the Ref 30 at my brother's house as he was going on about how fantastic it sounded. In contract to his prior Sony ES AV Preamp, there was a significant improvement in sound. We went through the different modes both with music (which stereo is suitable to me) and movies to see what this bad boy could do.

Here are my thoughts: while there was an improvement in imaging and separation for movies, I must say I was not all that impressed with it's ability to reproduce music. Maybe he didn't have it set up right or as he puts it, "maybe it's my cables."

In contrast, my Acurus ACT3, which I paid $1000 less for, just sounded cleaner and more detailed when playing music. He has a B&K amp with B&W speakers, I have Acurus amps with Paradigm speakers. There wasn't a significant difference between the price of our other components and we even have the same DVD Player (Toshiba SD-5109).

Maybe it's just me, but I thought an "audiophile" quality system should be able to do music to. Considering the price difference too, eh, I'll stick with my Acurus.

Similar Products Used:

Acurus ACT3, Sony ES AV7000

great sound,flexibility,good looks,upgradable

none, really; would like to be able to specify varying x-over frequencies for each pair of speakers, but this may be asking too much

Just wanted to say that I'm really thrilled with this product. The processing is wonderful on movies -- way more seamless and involving than I've ever heard. On two channel music, the sound is warm and rich, and in the bypass mode I'm able to bring in 96/24 music that is untouched and oh so deep.

I've read criticism of the remote but it truly is the first remote I've had that really can take the place of ALL the remotes I own. The macros are great and allow my wife to turn everything on and go to her favorite TV channel while she holds the baby and presses one button.

This is a quality unit in all regards and I would recommend it highly. I purposely waited to write this review so that I could highlight anything that came to mind. All that comes to mind are good things.

On a side note, I had an ELAD preamp hooked up to a Toshiba DVD player before I got the B&K (using the DACs of the Toshiba). I think the sound is actually better through the B&K (because I'm using the Toshiba as a transport only now, and using the B&K's DACs). When given the same analog signal, I'm not sure how the ELAD and B&K would fare, but I'm just noting that two-channel audio through a digital in will make you happy. I'm only giving the unit a 5 star for value because I got a great deal. If I had paid the retail price I may have gone for the 4.

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Denon receivers

very clean sound, ease of use, remote, upgradeable, customer service.

runs hot.

To start this preamp has a very clean and detailed sound. My previous system never sounded like this. Though, when I bought this preamp, I also bought new cables: DH Labs. Which are very revealing. I would not describe the sound of this av/preamp as warm. But then, the speakers I have are Infinity RSIIIb, which have emit tweeters and are very detailed. Given the fact that the speakers & cables are very detailed. What impressed me the most about sound is its silence, when there is a silent passage in music; it is absolutely silent even at loud volume, unless the recording was not the best. Then you will here the imperfections. I would also describe the sound as musical.
This is a very flexible and relatively easy a/v preamp to use. And has right features I was looking for. Upgradeable, 6 channel input, THX DOLBY EX, very good remote, lots of inputs & outputs.
Given the sound, features, and price this av/preamp is very hard to beat. You have to go to an integra research at nearly twice the price. ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT: B&K REF30
B&K 4430 REF {MAIN-CENTER}
ADCOM 555 {REAR}
PIONEER ELITE DV-FO7 {DVD}
INFINITY RS IIIb {MAIN}
INFINITY RS IV {REAR}
INFINITY KAPPA VIDEO {CENTER}
MONITOR AUDIO ASW 210 {SUB}
WIRES; DH LABS Q10
DH LABS BL-1 SERIES II
DH LABS SILVERSONIC D75

Similar Products Used:

marantz av9000, sony tae-9000es, parasound avc2500, b&k ref20, acurus act 3

Clean, clear, articulate sound for stereo and home theater

Remote does not work well for DVD players, but that's a nit

I finally purchased a friend for my Outlaw Audio 750 amplifier, the B&K Ref. 30, and it is proving to be a very good friend, too. I replaced my Denon AVR-2700 that was acting as a pre/pro for the L/C/R channels while still driving the surrounds. The difference was very noticable and helped confirm that my quest for better sound, while quite expensive, wasn't all in my head!

The B&K Ref. 30 really opened up all the sound in my CD collection. Everything is clean, clear, and "all there" from every CD I tried in my collection. I tend to use my Los Lobos CDs for critical listening since they pack a lot of different instruments into each song. I heard things I never knew were really there and had faint sounds suddenly become very clear and identifiable instead of something back there in the mix. The bass coming out of my HGS-10 is now much cleaner and defined. Imaging improved, too. For home theater use, I was really surprised at how much improvement I saw there, since I thought most of the work was done in the chips and their wasn't much else that could significantly change the sound. My music video DVDs just sound amazing now.

The reality of all this is I replaced a $750 receiver with $3600 worth of amplifier and pre/pro. Could you spend even more to get better sound. Sure you could, but the law of diminishing returns has kicked in (at least for me) big time. I really hunted around for a good high quality, high value setup and I think I've found one. The amazing thing to me is I'm now throwing some pretty serious equipment at my NHT SuperOnes, Supercenter, and SuperZero surrounds and they are only sounding better and better. I was sure I'd move on to speakers next, but I feel no sense of urgency given the great performance of my NHT speakers.

Equipment config:
B&K Ref. 30
Outlaw 750 amp
NHT SuperOnes, Supercenter, and SuperZeroes
Denon DCM-460 CD changer (using digital out to B&K)
Toshiba SD-3006 DVD player (first generation player)
Sony KV32FV15 Wega TV
Straightwire Symphony II interconnects
Tributaries S-video and composite video cables

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None