It seems like a great product but I really feel that Integra should be competing on price and volume, not features and exclusivity. They should have kept this in the $2,500 price range.
The AVR high-end market is very packed with the Yamaha A8A and A6A, Sony 5000ES and 7000ES (and we're anxiously waiting to hear how they perform as they have some very interesting upgrades).
Then there's the Emotiva MR1 at $2,000 which has the new version of Emo-Q. 2 people chose it over the Marantz SR8012 and Cinema 40 which means that the room correction cannot be that horrible.
On the price, we have yet to see what the real "street price" will be...
There are very few AVR's with power specs near what is being advertised here - and those that do have that level of power are substantially more expensive....
It fills an interesting slot - high power, and probably (based on my experience with previous generation Onkyo/Integra flagship models of similar power) high current ability to handle low impedance speakers, "limited" to 7.2.4 - 11 channels + 2 sub channels (the alternatives at a similar power level, are 13 channels+subs), with the very well regarded Dirac room EQ.
Yes it has competitors, but each competitor makes differing compromises... more channels, less power; not all channels powered, weaker Room EQ, etc...
It's closest direct competitor is the no longer current, Denon X6700h, which at release sold for US$2500 but most lately at US$3000
D&M are not expected to rerelease a competitor in that segment for at least another year... with their AVR-A1H being a substantial notch upwards at US$6500... their X4800 has fewer powered channels, and lower power...
The Sony AZ7000 has similar power level and more channels (13.2) for US$3300.... differentiator = Dirac Vs Sony's proprietary system
Yamaha A8A is also a close competitor - similar power level, same channels, same DAC chipsets, US$3600 - Dirac vs Yama proprietary system
You look at its direct competitors - and the price is well positioned, and slightly lower than most of its competitors - with the additional option of adding DLBC - widely considered to be a superior bass management system to its competitors... although once you add that, it ends up at the top of the price scale... which is perhaps not inappropriate?
There are plenty of people using the JBL Synthesis SDR35/38 for 7.2.4 setups... they cost almost 3x what the 8.4 is coming out at - have more pre-out channels (15.2), but only 7 powered channels, and substantially less power. Feature set is very similar. US$8550
For AVR's that are capable of handling DLBC as of today, the Denon X3800 and X4800 come in cheapest, followed by the Integra 8.4... and anything is else costs heaps more. (and all of these are theoretically capable of running DL-ART).
We are finally setting up for some interesting competition in this segment of the market... !
