Looking for processor recomendations

I secured a new Cary 11a one for 2k USD...silver faceplate to match my older cinema 7 amp. At this price, I can live with paying the extra 500 bucks over the feature laden Marantz. Also, found out from Cary that for 595, the software and hardware can be upgraded to support 3D and hdmi 1.4...which in this market will make it future proof for about 2 weeks...

Some posters have claimed the Cary upgrade has cured a few bugs as well. When I was doing my internet research before buying a month old 11a, I got the distinct impression that the sound quality of the Anthem D2 wasn't quite up to that of the 11a, and that I would need to step up to a Classe 800 at about $8K. The biggest complaint with the 11a was that the automated room correction S/W on the chip Cary uses isn't accurate, and indeed the Cary manual recommends using a tape measure and SPL meter.

db

Thanks for the response DB.

I also have the feeling that at the price point we got the units for, the sound is hard to beat. I don't think the Marantz is near it's equal, though I may be wrong.

I will only use it for 2 channel, home theatre and digital cable. No gaming. I think it should have enough capability for my needs.

With the Cary, i know the video just passes through. I will use this feature with my projector, but for a dvr, digital cable, apple tv, would I be better off buying a video processor to process the video signal and hooking the video processor through the Cary to improve the picture quality?

I pass video and audio from my DirecTV HD-DVR through a DVDO Edge that sends 1080p to the projector and Dolby Digital to the Cary 11a. For convenience, I also pass video from my Oppo BDP-93 through the Edge, although the Oppo has video processing at least equal to that of the Edge. I distinctly prefer to bypass the Edge for DSD and lossless codecs from the Oppo.

db