Video Asylum

Posted by williak (A) on April 03, 2003 at 08:19:24

In Reply to: Receivers as Preamp/Pro posted by JLarry on April 03, 2003 at 01:22:18:

Since you indicate "best", you're looking at flagships.

Current flagship receivers that have been released in the recent past include the Denon AVR5803, the Pioneer Elite VSX49TXi and the B&K AVR507 and AVR505. All would meet your stated requirements.

Other flagships with somewhat older designs will generally not have bandwidth adequate to perform component video switching at HDTV resolutions. Furthermore, they will not have redigitization, bass management and time alignment on the SACD/DVD-A inputs (this may or may not be important to you). They may also be missing one or more of the latest HT decode modes. Finally, older units will not have any provision for digital inteface to hirez sources unlike the units listed above.

Pricing is in the $2500-$3500 range.

Austin