Hi Tom,
My unreserved recommendation would be to go for the
Denon AVP-A1HDci preamp.
This thing is one of the best sounding, and definitely most feature filled pre on the market now.
It easily equaled or bested the Meridian gear I had previously.
For overall flexibility, there is nothing out there that comes close.
If looking for something below that cost point ($7,500 MSRP), then there is supposed to be a new model introduced this summer/fall that will bring most of the feature set down to the $2,500 to $3K street price level. It will not be fully differential balanced like the A1, but will still have plenty of audio performance.
[
Edit: this new lower-cost pre is still vaporware, so probably won't release in '09]
The one thing I’ve found is totally worth going to this unit has been the phase-correct room correction brought on by Audyssey. A good Pro calibration will transform your sound in ways no other tweak, or change of gear could.
Read reviews here:
http://avppoaowners.wetpaint.com/page/Companion+Sites+and+Professional+Reviews
Combined with a Denon player that has DenonLink, and you also get some of the cleanest CD/DVD/DVD-A or SACD playback.
New models like the upcoming X010 line (such as the $2K 4010) will offer Jitter free PCM from BluRay as well as jitter-free PCM or DSD from all other sources using DenonLink4.
No other vendor offers this option, Meridian comes close with the G98 / 800 players, but they don’t do SACD nor BluRay.
I have to say I’ve been pretty impressed at the Denon setup for the past year, at the high-end, they are really kicking butt.
