2 channel performance, Quality of dacs, ease of operation.

Lack of 7.1 channels at this time but will be upgraded. Lack of delay control for front 2 channels/

Sound is extremely clean and dynamic. On two channel, it provides some of the best sound I have heard only being bettered by 2 channel pre-amps that cost substantially more. Surround reproduction is also the best and most natural that I have heard due likely to the use of Burr Brown 1704 dacs on all channels, even the subwoffer! Unit does reguire break-in. For the first few days the soundstage appeared to be rather small. But once the unit was broken in the width of the soundstage quickly expanded. The unit has a very wide dynamic range and this is especially evident with the use of 24/96 music only dvd from Chesky and Classic records. Finger snaps, symbols, and drum attacks with such disk played thur this unit offer a level of realism bettered only by SACD. Because this is a new unit many have not heard it. But before you purchase any other unit, I suggest you do. Perhaps, in time the rest of the field will catch up. But right now, the sonics of this unit are on a level never before achieved by a surround processor. With the new music only surround formats like DVd-A and SACD, it is important to have a good 5.1 channel preamp that is clean on all of it's channels. Having just good 2 channel performance is no longer enough. And even good 2 channel had been elusive with all other units of this type. NOT SO WITH THIS UNIT.Compared with other units of this type this unit deserves a rating of 6 stars.

Similar Products Used:

Proceed AVP, Lexicon MC-1, Aragon Soundstage

Excellent 2 channel reproduction.
Separate Video Switching.
software and hardware upgradable
Burr-Brown DF 1704 eight-times oversampling, 96kHz/24-bit digital interpolation filters.
PCM 1704 24-bit dual-colinear D-to-A converters for all six channels.
Comes with the Pronto remote.
Excellent setup flexability.
Variable crossover.

Separate Video switcher.
No 5.1 channel analog input.
Price.
No ex or 7 channel support.

I picked up this unit recently and I have nothing but good things to say. First let me start setup flexability. I am not that familiar with products from Lexicon, or Proceed, or Theta. So I will describe what the Cal allows... they use a system called presets which allows you to set the system parameters for each individual input... in otherwords if you wanted to compare the on board Dacs of your cd player vs the Dacs on the Cal it can be accomplished with one button. so ( sorry if this is long winded) If you want to listen to music in 2 channel with your speakers set as large with no sub, you can do that and at the same time you can set up your Dvd player to play in 5.1 with all channels being small and with a sub on and the cross over set at 80hz... each of the presets can be set individually or you can set each preset to use the default audio setup.

How it sounds... well frankly great I have recently dug up all the cd's I own and listened to them again... hearing things that I cannot previously recall hearing.

It is equally adept at movies as it is with music. I could go on for days but... If you get a chance to audition this piece please go and try it is well worth your time... I will not be trading in this unit for a while... below please find a link to a review from Widescreen Review... Richard Hardesty runs a series of reviews on some pre-pros ( he covers, Lexicon MC1, proceed AVP, the cal and the Theta Casanova...)

http://db.widescreenreview.com/equiprev/FMPro?-db=eqrev.fp3&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-lay=eqrev&-sortfield=Product%20Name&-op=cn&Product%20Name=ssp%202500&-max=10&-recid=81&-findall=


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