End of 2017 - What's best in Home Theater Preamp / Processor

claytonJ2

Well-Known Member
May 25, 2011
43
4
395
Bothell, WA
I currently have a Integra DHC-80.3, starting to think about upgrading to something better. I'm not real concerned about ceiling speakers. I'm doing 7 channels (Martin Logan electrostatics) and 3 subwoofers. I have a projector, not yet 4k and I don't think I'll be getting a 4k projector before the next time I'm looking to upgrade my processor. I'm wondering what is best right now, please? I heard a Schitt Yggdrasil yesterday on electrostatic speakers and it really blew me away. I know I'm not going to find sound like that in a home theater processor, but I'm feeling the bite of the upgrade bug. Everything goes through the processor, so it's the limiting factor.

Regards,
Clayton
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Last edited:

rblnr

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 3, 2010
2,151
291
1,170
NYC/NJ
I'm a dealer for the following, so take this as you will:

In their price ranges (3-4K), the Anthem and Marantz shine. The Anthem has clearly better steering and is the pick for someone using it primarily for HT, the Marantz is slightly better for music.

Several levels above in performance at 12K or so is the Storm Audio ISP 3D.16 Elite w/Dirac room correction. Super quiet, smooth and dynamic, with a terrific UI. It definitely competes w/excellent two channel DACs, and it's processing via Auro, DTS and Dolby challenges the most expensive stuff out there (Datasat/Theta/Trinnov) which goes for as much as twice the price. We've had them all in our room.
 

RogerD

VIP/Donor
May 23, 2010
3,734
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BiggestLittleCity
I currently have a Integra DHC-80.3, starting to think about upgrading to something better. I'm not real concerned about ceiling speakers. I'm doing 7 channels (Martin Logan electrostatics) and 3 subwoofers. I have a projector, not yet 4k and I don't think I'll be getting a 4k projector before the next time I'm looking to upgrade my processor. I'm wondering what is best right now, please? I heard a Schitt Yggdrasil yesterday on electrostatic speakers and it really blew me away. I know I'm not going to find sound like that in a home theater processor, but I'm feeling the bite of the upgrade bug. Everything goes through the processor, so it's the limiting factor.

Regards,
Clayton

In my HT setup I needed more amplifier channels than consumer gear offered. So I looked into commercial units and even though I decided on a QSC processor, the Datasat AP20 offers a lot of options including Dirac.
http://www.datasatdigital.com/cinema/
 

Iamrael

Member
Nov 3, 2017
87
4
8
I think that too often high quality amplification is overlooked when it comes to HT systems I have heard (other than my own). The Integra is a great processor.....look for some exceptional amplification and you will likely find happiness.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada

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