I picked up the HK DPR 1001 to use strictly as a pre-amp. I’m using a Spectron Musician II as my main amp, Norh Le Amps for center and surrounds and a VMPS larger sub on a bridged Crown K2. My source is a Sony DVPNC555ES DVD/SACD 5-disk changer.
I can’t tell you anything about the HK’s built-in amps. However, I can tell you that feature-wise, the HK puts to shame processors costing a lot more (the HK can be had for $499 at onecall.com). As noted, it has 7.1 preamp outs but what I love about it is the triple xover. It lets you individually set up the xover for each input (or globally) and gives you the choice of a different xover freq for front/rear/center. With a “small” setting anything below the xover point (for each speaker group) is sent to the sub-out. With “large” fronts, you have the choice of also sending the signals below the xover point to the sub (or not), in addition to the LFE.
Speaker levels can be set separately, not only for each input but also for each mode in each input (stereo, Dolby Digital/ProLogic II Movies, Pro logic II Music and so on) so depending on the modes you use, you can spend a lot of time calibrating speakers.
As far as the 7.1 direct inputs, you can still use the triple xover (many pre/pros don’t xover when using the direct input) or you can set the fronts to large and achieve complete analog bypass (signal sent to volume control directly) according to HK. Because of the VMPS larger, I was looking into getting an active xover before I ran into the HK. I don’t claim that HK’s built-in xover is of Marchand caliber, I don’t even know what order it is (no info from HK) but for $499…by the way, I noticed a big difference crossing the VMPS larger at 80 Hz vs. 100 Hz (80 Hz being the clear winner by far).
In the past I found HK gear to be rather “glitchy” and unreliable but this unit comes with a 2 yr part/2 yr labor warranty-not bad at all.
Now to the sound. I was most impressed with the Dolby Pro Logic II processing for digital and regular cable-truly superb. I also compared the HK’s DAC vs. the Sony’s via 5.1 direct input (level matched with Radio Shack SPL meter using A setting) with several Redbook CDs. The HK had significantly more forward midrange than the Sony. I couldn’t decide which one was better, they were just different. I guess it would depend on the kind of music but I ended up listening mostly through the Sony DACs.
For movies, I found the Dolby Digital quality to be even between the HK and Sony DAC. As I mentioned earlier, I was really impressed with Pro logic II and even more impressed with PLII Music mode on digital cable and DVDs. PLII is very good for analog but I found it excellent converting a 2-ch Dolby Digital input to multi-channel.
At some point and after the HK is broken-in I will try to A/B this setup with a good 2-ch preamp to compare overall sound in 2-ch but given the features and convenience of this unit as a pre/pro and the current pricing, this one’s a keeper.
