Thinking of upgrading my pre/pro... with B&W speakers :)

[jlee]

Hmmm... I remember reading the rules and it says we can post about how things will sound in conjunction with B&W speakers... if I'm mistaken, I will delete my post and repost it elsewhere. I have N804, HTM1, and SCM1 in a 5.1 setup. I run it with a Rotel RSP-1098 pre/pro with Classe CAM-350 amps in the front and center and CAM-200 in the rear. I am thinking the weakpoint in my system is now the 1098. Although I think it is excellent value, in order to get that much product into that kind of a price bracket, some comprises had to be made. It appears relatively noisy (nothing buzzy or annoying, but just "white noise hissy" as far as high end gear goes) and only ouputs a maximum of 1.2V. My CAM-350's have a max output when an input of 1.5V is given to it. Therefore, although the system plays as loud as I need it to, I can't help but think that my 1098 is always running near the limit where the distortion is theoretically higher. Something like the Classe SSP-300 has a max output of 5.0 V (or is it 2.0V?) and therefore would be in it's "midrange" (where distortion is extremely low) while my system is playing at a high volume. Has anybody compared these 2 pre/pro's side by side? I always felt like the $4500 US SSP-300 was about $500-$1000 overpriced, but I don't see too many other alternatives out there... at least one that would match my existing B&W, REL, Classe setup.

[akhter]

Hmmm... I remember reading the rules and it says we can post about how things will sound in conjunction with B&W speakers... if I'm mistaken, I will delete my post and repost it elsewhere. I have N804, HTM1, and SCM1 in a 5.1 setup. I run it with a Rotel RSP-1098 pre/pro with Classe CAM-350 amps in the front and center and CAM-200 in the rear. I am thinking the weakpoint in my system is now the 1098. Although I think it is excellent value, in order to get that much product into that kind of a price bracket, some comprises had to be made. It appears relatively noisy (nothing buzzy or annoying, but just "white noise hissy" as far as high end gear goes) and only ouputs a maximum of 1.2V. My CAM-350's have a max output when an input of 1.5V is given to it. Therefore, although the system plays as loud as I need it to, I can't help but think that my 1098 is always running near the limit where the distortion is theoretically higher. Something like the Classe SSP-300 has a max output of 5.0 V (or is it 2.0V?) and therefore would be in it's "midrange" (where distortion is extremely low) while my system is playing at a high volume. Has anybody compared these 2 pre/pro's side by side? I always felt like the $4500 US SSP-300 was about $500-$1000 overpriced, but I don't see too many other alternatives out there... at least one that would match my existing B&W, REL, Classe setup.

I have the N804 as well, I would recommend you look at the Arcam AVP700. At around $2000, its not too expensive, but it has the same analog pre section as the far more expensive AV8 ($5000). I compared my AVR300 with the top Rotel models, and to me, the Rotels sounded too boomy and colored, and the Arcam sounded much more transparent.

[grit]

Jlee, Please let us know what you come up with. I just got to listen to 803's, 703's and Aerial Acoustics 7b's on Rotel gear. I love the way my 703's sound on Rotel equipment (demoed a 1098, 1095), but felt the 803's and 7b's (especially the 7b's) didn't sound as good as they should. Leads me to believe I'd need to upgrade my electronics too, and I'm looking at Classe' as well. As you pointed out, not at all inexpensive (about $10k for the amp and pre/pro).