Ref70 and avr707.

[Dmantis]

Hello all,
I now work for a company that carries B&K. I have not worked with B&K in a few years now and I'm glad to be around them again. I plan on taking some time in the near future to demo these units and then leave a review of my findings.

keep an eye out if your interested,

mantis

[John Holmes]

Looking forward to your views and input on them. :T

[RenoReno2]

Same here, I have the itch to upgrade badly

[Dmantis]

Ok,
so I'll do a brief review as I didn't get to spend enough time to go deep.

The setup menu is now changed. It has a tree type design off to the left. Every input has a setup which is really nice. 3 Notch filters to really clean up the bass. I like that as the older models had 1 in the 30 and 307. No setup mic but using a spl and the Notch you can get a really good setup.
It has 14 inputs. yes 14. I can't see anyone ever running out of inputs. It has 6 yes 6 hdmi inputs. Thats fantastic. I love it. Finally a preamp that I can hook up everything I want and not have to buy a external switcher.
It still comes with a mx700 type remote. It would be nice if it had the upgraded mx850 design so you can use RF and the upgraded screen/ directional pad with separate center button.
It's built quality is exactly what you would expect from B&K. Rock solid and that slightly Industrial look. Nice screen and layout although I don't know if I like the big B&K on the front.
Sound quality was fantastic for 2 channel as well as multichannel. It has a air in between the instruments. I was very impressed. So much clearer then more others I have listened to including my personal Rotel .
Volume ramps up smooth and easy. Easy to control which may not be important but after owning a Rotel preamp that ramps up to damn fast and not smooth no matter how you set it up, for me personally this is huge.
Overall I think it's fantastic. Everything everyone else said about it on the AVS forum about overall sound quality in 2 channel is dead on. It's so damn airy and clear. I love it as I use my theater system for music. Huge bonus.
I have considered the Integra preamp but for 2 channel it lacks and this is very important to me. Not to mention the B&k has 6 HDMI, did I tell you that???LOL.

Anyway I gotta spend more time and get deeper into it. We have it set up in our dedicated theater room running with a Krell showcase 7 channel amp and Def Tech Speakers.Amp is connected in Balanced with Cardas cables. Def tech speakers are not my favorite speakers for music but with this preamp and amp, it's a whole new ball game. I want to try some other speakers as well, We have Revel and Paradigm that I want to give a round to. Both companies I prefer more then Def Tech but I'm becoming more of a fan with this setup.

O I used a Sony es Blu ray which sounds amazing as well. But not reviewing that now.

Stay tuned. I'm juiced and eager to get back in there and run it.

[John Holmes]

I'm staying tuned! 8)

[Dmantis]

Well I Installed a AVR 707 today with mixed feelings. Up front I wll say I'm mad about no THX or any other Zones. What up with that?? And why O why is the remote the same mx700. can't we get a mx850 B&k remote with the better screen and 4 way Arrow buttons? I don't get it.

I set up the Notch filters all 3 and found it very useful. I wish the didn't just Notch down but Up as well. I have a Dip at 210hz and wanted to boost it, It doesn't do it.Only cuts. So you stuck with that. I wish it had a Auto calibration. I feel the Notch filters are good but could be better.

Tha damn receiver has 14 inputs. I don't think anyone will ever use all of them. And the entire IR routing thing is really nice up not very useful as most will use there Control system IR routing or Rs232.

No muting circuit still, it pops and cracks out the speakers just like all the older models. I don't know if I like the new menu system or not.

So you have to get an Upgrade to get DTS MA and Dolby HD. Thats kinda beat. I'm not way into it.

I still overall love the way it sounds and performs . Very good quality and Dynamic as hell. Ran it with some Paradigm Speakers in the S series. Killer S2's up front man what nice sounding bookshelf speakers. I'm becoming a Paradigm fan.

[John Holmes]

Thanks for your impression, Dmantis.

As usual, B&K goes to the beat of their own drum. They are truly a love or hate kinda company. I still marvel at the sound, look and overall philosiphy behind the previous models. However, the things that you brought up like, the lack of the muting circuit, remote, THX, auto calibration and new codecs are strange to say the least.

I know that some of these "are coming". I just don't understand the reasoning for going in this direction. Especially in such a competitive market.

[Dmantis]

No lack in sound quality , if anything they are on par with Anthem and other bigger dogs. But I just don't understand any of the changes they made.
Why no zone 2 let alone zone 3?? All other preamps have this ability and a lot of jobs I will use zone 2. Now I'm stuck deciding on a NAD or a Anthem for zone 2. Or even going with Pioneer Elite.
Dropping THX. Ok I can see this running up the price but they have been THX for years and now the new latest and greatest is not. I also believe they dropped it in the s2 series of the 507 but the 507 was THX. Again not a huge deal but why lose something you already earned??
No Auto calibration. Ok The notch filters are cool and helpful but you can't remove a dip. You can bring down other freq's to try to get where the dip is but it's not as good as Auto cal. This is a let down for me.
Why 14 inputs?? Who in the world builds a theater or music room with 14 sources? Are there 14 sources to have??? I can't think of building a system this big. I do however like the 6 HDMI inputs, this comes in handy as most sources are HDMI. So lets figure that out. Cable , Blu Ray , DVD server , Xbox 360 , Ps3 ,Apple Tv. Thats using all 6 HDMI. Cool very useful and that would be a pretty killer video setup.
The remote just put it in the trash. The screen sucks and the select enter button sucks. It's a shame as it's a Universal remote that could be IR programmed to control a full system Automated. All exposed but hey it's included. Why even bother??? Most people who go this high end for there gear most likely will go with a Universal remote which is better then the mx700 of years ago.

I know I'm basically repeating my first post, but there things really bother me. I didn't even revisit the No muting circuit. The damn thing pops and cracks and a lot of customers get annoyed with this. When I owned the 307 , I got rid of it based on this reason. I switched to Rotel.

So bottom line is this, I want a new preamp. I like the B&K despite all it's short comings. It's price point is good but I'm not sure if it's the right buy when Rotel has released it's 15 series. I'm thinking that might be a better choice. As long as the video has no problems like I read about the 1069.

[RenoReno2]

To me it sounds like I'm better off staying with my ref 50 s2. I've been contemplating upgrading to the ref 70 once they have the new formats but I'm thinking it's just not worth it. Not sure what the price range is but from what I've hear it's around 4k way to much for what little you get if that's the right price

[RenoReno2]

Has any info been released about the trade in allowance?

[Dmantis]

Has any info been released about the trade in allowance?

I can ask our rep. It sounds fantastic man. My post is a personal one where I'm frustrated with trying to get the right preamp for me. I would already own the Integra DTR9.8 or 9 if I was only into home theater. But I enjoy listening to music on my system as well so I want a high quality 2 channel performing preamp with Home theater abilities as well. I have very tight needs and want my cake and eat it. maybe I'm asking to much out of a preamp but I want it and thats that. B&K has always had hick ups out of the box and new out of the gate. It's what they do. Then they fix it and fix it some more. Firmware upgrades and such. I have not had the chance to sit down with the B&K rep and work out my issues and see what's in store with the upgrade thats coming next year with it. I heard February but thats not a official date. I will get it.

We have a Ref70 in the shop and I have been meaning to ask if II can take it home for awhile and really put threw it's paces. The Integra is pretty damn nice but it's not a good 2 channel preamp. I never liked Integra anything with music. Home theater I find it to barely pass my standards but there preamp on paper has everything I want. I would just like 6 HDMI instead of 4 due to all the sources I want to run. I need at least 4 but that doesn't give you any upgradability.

Form a opinion of your own. These words are my own but they might hold some water if your needs are like mine.
The Anthem D2 is very nice but no Internal processing and lacking on HDMI inputs not to mention it's out of my price class but it's very very musical and it's room correction system is unbelievable. I was very Impressed with the one I did the upgrade on. Man it is very nice.

[RedWolf]

Simplicity

I don't know why B&K and the others feel that they need to have so many inputs and outputs. What happened to keeping it simple. All I want in a receiver is a quality tuner; outstanding amplifier rated at 150x5 8ohm and 300x5 4 ohm; four video inputs, one for cable, one for video player, one for my game console and one for spare; top notch WBT connectors, a solid transformer for clean power and download code library for my programmable remote. Oh and lets not forget the most important, I want balanced inputs for my CD with analog pass through.

[Dmantis]

I don't know why B&K and the others feel that they need to have so many inputs and outputs. What happened to keeping it simple. All I want in a receiver is a quality tuner; outstanding amplifier rated at 150x5 8ohm and 300x5 4 ohm; four video inputs, one for cable, one for video player, one for my game console and one for spare; top notch WBT connectors, a solid transformer for clean power and download code library for my programmable remote. Oh and lets not forget the most important, I want balanced inputs for my CD with analog pass through.

When you find one, let me know.

[RedWolf]

I will let you know, but I am sure I will be dreaming for quite some time.

[Thirsty93]

I also have a second system that has a jvc 46 inch I'art pro tv w/ Athena AS-B1.2 Fronts and a AS-C1.2 center,I also have a sony 12 inch SAWM40 Subwoofer on the system.
This is powered by a Harmon Kardon AVR 25 and dvd.