I recently purchased the DV45a on a whim. I was stunned when I ran across a particular DVD-Audio title (Richard Thompson's Rumor & Sigh), so I finally decided to take the multichannel audio plunge. $500 seemed like a reasonable price to test the waters (and presumably upgrade my DVD player in the process), so I went for it. I also bought a copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours for good measure.
My setup includes a Marantz SR5200, a pair of M22s, VP150, EP175 & QS4s. First impressions? Eh...yeah...whatever. Definitely more seamless/spacious than PLII, but still gimmicky to my ears. Select the two channel option, though, and there's a clarity present that's missing from the original CDs. Enough to justify another $10 a pop per CD? Not right now (for me, anyway). I haven't purchased a SACD title yet, but I'm not convinced there would be a chasm of difference between the two. Thankfully, the stereo sound on regular CDs is fine and the picture quality is a noticable improvement over my old cheapie JVC. Still, I suppose I was hoping to be a little more impressed with the Elite on regular CDs. But that's what dedicated CD players are for, right? Bottom line: I don't feel like I was robbed, but I approached the purchase with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Now I have my own question for anyone else who owns a DVD-Audio or SACD player running in 5.1: Has anyone else run into trouble with respect to inadequate power? The Marantz is rated at 90W per channel, and my normal listening levels aren't that high. But I didn't make it through one disc before the amp overloaded and shut itself down. I suspect the culprit might be the 6ohm rating on the VP150, but I'd be interested to hear feedback from anyone else.
- Mike
