2. home-theater
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Any Home Theater Experts here?

My home theater setup right now is a Sony DA777ES 5 channel receiver that I'm using as a processor; and it is also driving my two rear speakers. The center speaker is being driven by a Bryston monoblock and the fronts by a Gamut D200 amp. The front speakers and center are Verity Parsifals. The surrounds are Mirage Omnis. My home theater is also connected to my Sonic Frontiers Line 3 preamplifier which I can switch to bypass mode whenever I want to listen to two channel.

My question is: I can understand that for 2 channel listening with a seperate good preamp, I could hear soundstaging, detail, musicality etc, but what should I expect the improvement be if I replaced my Sony receiver with a dedicated home theater processor like the Outlaw model 990?

I would be using it mainly for watching movies since I only listen to 2 channel when listening to music. I'm using my Sonic Frontiers preamp for 2 channel, which I assume is better than the Outlaw in this application.

Experts, pls. advise on if it's worth replacing my Sony receiver/processor for a dedicated home theater processor like the Outlaw model 990. Will I enjoy movies more, or not really?
royy
yohjo
82 posts
 
Unless I am mistaken you already have a home theater processor in the Sony. I would not change the sony, your set-up seem fine.
flrnlamb
508 posts
 
pressuming you're staying in 5.1 channels, and not 6.1/7.1 (lest you add amp and speakers for rear/sides), I'd look at quality over quantity indeed. I'd even sacrifice the newer DPLII/IIx in favor of doing 2.1 channel material for stereo movies and such if needbe.
What you can expect from better pre's is better dynamics, lower noise floor, better channel separation, low level detail, refinement.
I'd start at a minimum of Acurus Act 3 with ABM for a budget. I've a factory upgraded 7.1 Acurus unit with 24/192 DAC's myself that's superb, if rare. Another choice is a used Thule or Cal Audio 2500. Krell HTS is superb and refined for $1200-1500 range used for 5.1, if a tad less dynamic than the suprising little Act 3. Otherwise, considering the Anthem AVM20 or better is a good chioce.
If you have a difficult room setup, where you have problems with getting flat response, I'd consider some of the models with a built in parametric EQ, if you care. It does make a huge difference in a system with wall mounted speakers, and diffucult speaker/seating choices.
Do you need 6.1, DPLIIx, etc? There's lots of other choices out there. Many that won't do much better than what you have now however. The Outlaw 990 probabaly won't sound much stronger than the Sony's preamp section however.
Good luck
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
I would say dont bother, if you are not serious with movies as you are with music then put your money elsewhere, I truely think it is VERY easy to pull off a good movie experience on the cheap, music is a whole other story though. I replaced an Onkyo reciever with Rotel seperates and some features are nice but door slams and car crashes are pretty easy for a Sony to do just fine. I also use a Sonic Frontiers for 2 channel.
Do you really feel like you are missing anything during movies????? If you hesitate to answer at all then I would leave it alone.
Ofcourse others opinions will vary but I know more then a few guys here with really nice rigs and running recievers for home theater, and these guys could spend the money if they wanted, but movies have visuals, effects, story and charcters to wrap you up in the experience, I just think a Sony can do a well enough job if you are not critical of a movie experience.
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