Axiom Home Page Forums Thread Like Summary - New preamp-processsors

I figured I'd start a thread to discuss new pre-pros as they come out, since I'll be in the market as more options materialize. I'm still wanting to see what Anthem puts out, but I saw Marantz has released a new one with most of the features I want.

Marantz AV7706

They don't specifically mention HDMI 2.1 unless I'm missing it, but elsewhere I read that only one HDMI input is full 2.1. That seems fairly short-sighted for future-proofing, but the price is right. It should still support all of the features of this upcoming generation of gaming consoles on the other inputs, and it's not like I'm even entertaining the idea of 8K right now.

Are there other pre-pros you're considering, or do you have comments on this one? The main things I want are the balanced XLR connections, full support for object-based audio formats, and all of the video features for the new gaming consoles. I know Dirac Live is supposed to be amazing, but I don't even use Audyssey beyond setting speaker distances and levels. Once those are set, I turn it off. So Dirac Live hasn't been a real consideration. I just assume that any of the room correction software, no matter how advanced, is going to have issues with the LFRs. Is it wrong to think that?

The Monoprice unit is actually a rebadged design built in conjunction with "DataSat"(it even looks similar)that has been around for awhile and in some movie theaters so it would seem the technology is mature. The problem with all these "high-end" high priced units is they seem to be a year or two behind the curve in the latest technology especially now related to 2.1 and Earc and even if they can be updated, considering the money you have already spent, you will have to spend more. Of course, after a considerable amount of research on the subject, 2.1, in particular is of no real value unless you are going to invest in an 8K set, but, even more importantly that you are a "gamer", especially one who prefers to play games from your PC monitor with the latest and most expensive video board and want to use your television monitor as the display, otherwise it really is of little use. Earc has been around for awhile even on two year old mainstream AVRs that have had the capacity to be updated with firmware.

I personally am waiting for what Yamaha has coming up. I had one of their previous CX series pre-pros which although only maximum 11.2 channels was very good, good sound, good value, very good build quality, and in the "Aventage" series they offer a full 4 year warranty. whereas the other mainstream manufacturers usually only provide a maximum of 3 yrs. Since I have a dedicated A/V set-up I have tried other brands, but, in the end I always returned to Yamaha because, in the end, I preferred their DSP Movie Theater programs which gave a subtle yet, effective and fully adjustable illusion of a much larger space(without affecting the separation) as opposed to the others which don't and regardless of the price of the pre-pro, are ultimately limited to the space in which you are listening to and watching the movie.