Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Seperates owners

I saw that. $60 for a pair of Athena towers. I haven't heard them but if you're a poor student, how can you go wrong?

I think if I were looking for a HT separate combo, I’d save my pennies and go with the Axiom amp. For Pre/Pro, Integra is rumored to be releasing one this summer. Again, just rumors, but its MSRP is set at $1600 US.

More rumors:

Integra DTC 9.8

HMDI 1.3
THX Ultra II
Three zones
Balanced inputs
Balanced outputs
Audysey room EQ (possibly the Pro version)
Five HDMI inputs / two outputs
Plays ALL high res audio formats
Burr-Brown 1796 DAC’s for all channels
Pure DSD decoding via HDMI audio input
Two Sub Woofer outputs
Reon VX Video Processor (possibly the Realta, but unconfirmed)
HD, Sirius and XM radio tuner (can play all three on all three zones simultaneously)
3 year warrantee

Yep, I want one……

All right, yeah, that sounds pretty hot.

now that sounds like a good pre/pro ....well atleast the options are.

Looks as if these rumors might just end up being true. I've been following this thread at AVS. A picture is posted now.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10742872#post10742872

Hmmm, I only see four HDMI inputs, not five, on the DTC-9.8. Maybe the rumor was updated. I didn't look back through. I'm thinking of pairing that up with an Emotiva LPA-1, though I'm also thinking an amp with XLR connections would be cooler. I don't know if it really results in a lower noise floor or not.

Ya, and I only see one Sub pre out too....

This is definately a Pre/Pro to keep an eye on though. Integra makes some pretty nice stuff.

Another one to keep an eye on...

NAD T175

The link specs state HDMI 1.2, but its releace has just been delayed to incorporate 1.3 along with all their new receivers. The T175 MSRP is rumored to be $2000 US. Should be on shelves in August.

http://www.digitalvideoht.it/files/NAD_T175.pdf

Does anyone know what it means that the Integra line uses "hand-picked" parts, as opposed to Onkyo not? After all, for the new Onkyo receivers, they worked with THX engineers the whole way to ensure it was all handy and dandy to the max. I guess hand-picking didn't figure into it. I may still end up with an Onkyo receiver instead of the Integra preamp. I would kind of like separates just because I've never had separates, and I'm curious, but I may not be able to see the justification on the preamp vs. receiver side. I'll still probably end up with a dedicated amplifier, though, even if I end up with a 140 watt/channel THX Ultra 2 receiver. I mean, I'll try the Emotiva, and if it doesn't seem to give me headroom I can hear, I'll send it back. Yeah, maybe I'll just get the receiver and TRY the amp. That will probably satisfy my curiosity more than getting the preamp and amp together and never seeing if the dedicated amplifier is making a difference. Plus, maybe I'll save some money on a good internet deal instead of having to go through a local dealer (even though I like the local Integra dealer).

Hand-picked parts to me means that the manufacturing department calls to engineering and says "Help! I've got boards that don't meet spec...again!". The design engineer goes to the line for the umpteenth time, establishes that another marginal design has been discovered yet again and corrective action consists of screening parts that have wide margins in order to make the board work so that the company can ship to recognize revenue. The root cause is never established and preventative action is never put in place because the company is short-staffed and doesn't have a quality culture.

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