Best multi channel amp and processor good for 2 channel listening.

Hi m-dB,

I am with you up to the tube part.  I contemplated a tube at first but don’t want to deal with the maintenance.  I am confident I can find a ss that can come close to a tube sound. Actually, I am currently researching T&A, Accuphase, Esotéric and my favorite so far Luxman. 

I am not sure what you mean by mixing speakers. I am considering keeping my Sonus Faber for surround and the Verity’s for music.

I have trolled several bankrupt studios and the equipment was auctioned off at low prices. One thing I came away with was the most critical areas of the studio had Bryston for amplification. At the time I was unfamiliar with the brand but after much research I can see they are the way to go if you want perfection of tolerance and longevity and FLAT response. They don't add or take away from the source signal. They are not warm or anything else, just ACCURATE. Some people say to bright, but it is the signal that is bright. I own Anthem equipment only because I could not afford Bryston. Anthem is good don't get me wrong but the studios know more than most on this forum.

I will give another vote to the AVM60. It really is a superior unit with amazing steering logic. The ARC software does a commendable job of “ironing out” all the various speakers (different sizes, types, brands, locations) to create a unified and believable sound field. It is also more than respectable with 2 channel audio. You would likely have to spend as much as the Anthem on a 2 channel audiophile pre to get better results. 

Alkolid your feelings that because a studio uses something therefore it is good is completely inaccurate. Studios use certain products because they are durable and do the job. 

We were a Bryston dealer for years and their amplifiers were good not amazing but good, the CD player was very good for the price and their preamplifiers were okay at best.

In order to make a Bryston setup sound really good you had to use a tube preamplifier to add some body to the sound, we haven't heard their latest gear but  that was our experience at the time, the Luxman gear and Hegel components were far better.

We will agree that the AVM 60 is excellent for the price and we did prefer it to the more expensive Marantz 8802a and the Anthem room correction is superb however the AVM 60 can be bettered by more expensive pre/procs.

We have the Audio Control Maestro M9 and that is the best sounding pre pro we have ever used it is a $8900 40 lb monster pre/pro with individual burr brown dacs per channel and the sound is exquiste you could clearly hear the difference between the AVM 60.

We were running that magnificent pre/pro with an $18k Plinius Odeon one of the finest multi channel amplifiers that has ever been built with all Kef Reference loudspeakers and the sound was remarkable for both music and theater.

We are selling our Odeon because Plinus recently discontinued it as they were not selling that many of them, Plinus is known as a two channel company.

This one multi channel amplifer bested a set of 400watt mono blocks as well from a very respected European company. 

We know just how remarkable a good music and theater system can be. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Maguiar, you asked for opinions so here’s my two cents. When I first read this thread in Jan I didn’t respond because I thought it was so off track. The concept of using two channels of a 7.1 processor/amp as a second zone to run high quality audio speakers seemed poor. I’m glad that people have mentioned that already and now you’re exploring a bypass setup or just selling two speakers and integrating everything or having two totally separate setups. Those seem like much better choices with the last one being the best IMHO.

The thing is you’re really wanting two different things in the way you’re describing the two channel sound you like. I don’t think you get there with just playing the L/R speakers of your HT when you want to listen to music because it will never be as good as the Verity’s can be. Also, if somehow you can make the two L/R channels sound that good, the center will never match them in HT use. You’re probably closer to your goal by just listening to HT in an optimized Verity based 2CH system with a phantom center.

Anyway, to achieve your goal of a great HT with an audio system that meets the quality level you describe while having minimal equipment, I’d suggest the following:

- HT - Keep the SF 5.1 speaker setup and buy an AudioControl AVR8 in the used market. Yes, it’s a HT receiver, but it’s built like separates. It will more than keep up with any of the processor/amp combinations listed above. In HT you’ll get a lot of the key things you need, amp/proc integration, similarity among the 5 speakers, sound quality, video processing, room correction ect. Also, this unit has the better amp (double check this) and none of the Atmos, DTS X capabilities which you don’t need. It should be a great used value.

- Audio - Given what you described I would really suggest a tube based system. Most tube gear intrinsically has the qualities you’re looking for. I’ve heard the Verity Parsifal with a VAC Avatar integrated a few years back and it was sick. For my tastes, very few audio systems can better that sound quality. I don’t think they make the Avatar anymore, but something similar from VAC, VTL/Manley, Audio Research, Audio Note could be a good choice.

If the thought of tubes is a non-starter then find a good dealer and listen to a few solid state units on your speakers in your home to find the one that get’s closest to the sound you want. With solid state you’ve looking for a type of sound that’s usually not the norm. For that reason you need to try a few with your speakers and in your space to see which one is closest. This should be very doable because you haven't spent a lot of money on the HT side.