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Any upcoming AV processors?

Call me Ali

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Hello everyone,

Are there any AV processors that are slated to come out? The only two recommended units are $15000 and $17000? I was hoping one of the big boys like Anthem, NAD, or Arcam would have something good.

Anthem processors used to be very good. I listened to one a few years ago when I was speaker shopping and it sounded great. This is back when they were making them in Canada. When they released their MRX line, I was very excited and eventually bought the MRX720. What a turd. I could not get it to connect to WiFi. I'm the unofficial IT guy among family and friend so I'm very familiar with the process. Neither Crutchfield nor Anthem tech support was able to help. I ended up using a long Ethernet cable to do the ARC. Even after ARC, it didn't sound good to me. The unit also kept freezing. I thought these were still being made in Canada, but I found out that was not the case. The AVRs were built overseas, but the processors were still made in Canada. It looks like the processors have also been outsourced and the review reflects that.

I returned it and bought an entry level NAD. After Dirac, it sounded much better than the Anthem and it cost half as much. Based on the reviews, even higher end NADs are also off the table.

I've never had an Arcam, but they have a good reputation. Even they don't measure well.

I wish there were more AVP reviews on this site. There are many good DACs reviewed here. I hope Amir reviews more AVPs. At this point, I'll settle for a good AVR with XLR outputs.

Thanks,
Ali
 
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Golfx

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Welcome to the club of us waiting to buy a good prepro. Marantz just released its “A” version of its 8805. It will likely measure mediocre as did its predecessor. I wound up buying a Denon AVR A110 which I just use as a prepro. It’s foundation, the 8500, measured well on this website. It is also trouble free. I am waiting for Trinnov to update its altitude 16 with a new DAC and HDMI 2.1 both promised by release notes. I’ll then purchase that new version. It’s customer service and computer based platform (easy to fix remotely) along with the best room correction are winning selling points. Cons are rudimentary remote and no wifi. I don’t know why expensive AVP companies don’t offer wifi. Seems like detached arrogance to me.
 

SynthesisCinema

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Welcome to the club of us waiting to buy a good prepro. Marantz just released its “A” version of its 8805. It will likely measure mediocre as did its predecessor.

If it got the changes similar to 8015 then it should do better. I mean look the 7015 on this site and the 8015 which did quite good here and at Audioholics.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...marantz-sr8015-review-home-theater-avr.24005/


Yamaha bringing processor likely next year. This time with better YPAO which should tackle low frequencies better.

"New for 2021 is a parametric equalizer option called Low Frequency Mode (LFM). Yamaha says LFM identifies problems in the 15.6Hz to 250Hz frequency spectrum and corrects issues by recruiting the help of all available parametric filters. "
 

theBruce

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My recommendation is wait it out till next year when the chip shortage is hopefully over and there will be more and better options.

Another option is get something older, maybe from ebay, to get you by until the new processors are out.

That is what I did, was using my Denon 3700 as a pre-pro, happened to come across a Yamaha 5100 for $500 on ebay, bought it and now using, it sounds so much better then the Denon (using with a 7 channel Outlaw amp).

I do not use it for video switching, everything we watch is via apps like Vudu, YTTV, Netflix, etc, so hooked up via ARC and it does DD+ and Atmos incredibly well.
 
OP
C

Call me Ali

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My recommendation is wait it out till next year when the chip shortage is hopefully over and there will be more and better options.

Another option is get something older, maybe from ebay, to get you by until the new processors are out.

That is what I did, was using my Denon 3700 as a pre-pro, happened to come across a Yamaha 5100 for $500 on ebay, bought it and now using, it sounds so much better then the Denon (using with a 7 channel Outlaw amp).

I do not use it for video switching, everything we watch is via apps like Vudu, YTTV, Netflix, etc, so hooked up via ARC and it does DD+ and Atmos incredibly well.
That's a great price. I just checked ebay and there is only CX-A5000 listed for $900
 
OP
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Call me Ali

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Welcome to the club of us waiting to buy a good prepro. Marantz just released its “A” version of its 8805. It will likely measure mediocre as did its predecessor. I wound up buying a Denon AVR A110 which I just use as a prepro. It’s foundation, the 8500, measured well on this website. It is also trouble free. I am waiting for Trinnov to update its altitude 16 with a new DAC and HDMI 2.1 both promised by release notes. I’ll then purchase that new version. It’s customer service and computer based platform (easy to fix remotely) along with the best room correction are winning selling points. Cons are rudimentary remote and no wifi. I don’t know why expensive AVP companies don’t offer wifi. Seems like detached arrogance to me.

When you said commuter based, I didn't think there was a standard computer motherboard in there. Hopefully it's not running Windows :p

For the cost, there must be very good shielding to keep the electrical noise from the computer away from the audio section.
 
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Golfx

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When you said commuter based, I didn't think there was a standard computer motherboard in there. Hopefully it's not running Windows

For the cost, there must be very good shielding to keep the electrical noise from the computer away from the audio section.
Their website says Linux.
 
OP
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Call me Ali

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Their website says Linux.
The comment about Windows was supposed to be tongur in cheek, but the laughing emoji did not make it through initially. It's fixed now.:)

I'm looking forward to seeing your review of this unit when you get it. That price bracket is way outside my budget.
 

SpaceMonkey

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I gave up on abolute specs and IMHO ground loops, hum, etc are the only real concerns for setups as distortion and etc is nearly always below room noise floor unless one is inside an anechoic chamber.
 

theBruce

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The Rotel RSP-1576MKII looks very good on paper and has the full version of Dirac audio correction. I checked the review index and surprisingly there are no Rotel equipment of any kind listed. I wonder why that's the case.

https://rotel.com/product/rsp-1576mkii

Here is a review-

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/rotel-rsp-1576mkii-surround-sound-processor-review

And again, this processor came out last year, you will be paying full price for older tech, if you just wait for new preamp/processors ( next year), they will have things like HDMI 2.1 and HDCP 2.3.

Also does not have Balanced outputs, just RCA and it is limited to 5.2.4 speakers, not good if you want to expand, say Front Wide or rear Atmos for example, no Dolby Vision pass-through either
 
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OP
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Call me Ali

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Here is a review-

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/rotel-rsp-1576mkii-surround-sound-processor-review

And again, this processor came out last year, you will be paying full price for older tech, if you just wait for new preamp/processors ( next year), they will have things like HDMI 2.1 and HDCP 2.3.

Also does not have Balanced outputs, just RCA and it is limited to 5.2.4 speakers, not good if you want to expand, say Front Wide or rear Atmos for example, no Dolby Vision pass-through either

There are no reviews on this site. That's what I was referring to. Check out the processor reviews on the site you sent me. There are 14 processors listed on the first page; 12 have 5-stars for performance and 2 are close to 5. They don't have the knowledge or equipment to test objectively to differentiate.

Good point about lack of XLR. I assumed all processors had XLR outputs. Maybe there will be a Rotel RSP-158X MKII with Dirac next year. I'm not in a rush since my amplifier is not even built yet.
 

hmt

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Imo the Monoprice HTP-1 is a very good choice.
 

Golfx

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There is an instinctual bias to prefer our own decisions. So the math of measurements gives a reasoning tool to sort choices. Hence why ASR exists.
 

Blackdevil77

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Imo the Monoprice HTP-1 is a very good choice.

The SDP-55 got a slightly better review on here vs the HTP-1. Now that the bugs seemed to be worked out with both, which is the better processor?
 

Sancus

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The SDP-55 got a slightly better review on here vs the HTP-1. Now that the bugs seemed to be worked out with both, which is the better processor?

You should choose based on features and software, neither has audible basic electronics issues in any meaningful fashion. The SDP-55 has digital outputs(Dante) and some other distinct things, like an actual OSD which the HTP-1 lacks. I believe this bug list for the SDP-55 is still current.

Generally, I've seen fewer bugs reported with the HTP-1 and they seem to be handling the software better... but I don't think anyone is maintaining a distinct list for them so it's hard to tell which one is worse. All you can do is make sure there's no bugs that would interfere with your particular setup.
 

hmt

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The SDP-55 got a slightly better review on here vs the HTP-1. Now that the bugs seemed to be worked out with both, which is the better processor?

Are they ironed out? I am reading a lot. Some say all is perfect with Arcam/JBL, some stoll post lists of bugs. There is also still some uncertainty to the non booting bug of the htp-1. Seems still to happen randomly.
 

ex audiophile

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"I'll settle for a good AVR with XLR outputs. "
I can't think of any receivers with balanced preoutputs?
 
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