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lexx21
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:23 pm Post subject: Looking for dolby digital processor only... need advice |
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I am looking for a dolby digital processor (not preamp or amp) to use with a home theater tube amp build that I am doing. So far all I have been able to find is a processor that is integrated into either a preamp or some sort of integrated amp/receiver. All of my audio gear is tube and all I need is the processor that would output line level to my preamp.
What I HAVE been able to find is the old pro-logic stuff from way back, which isn't what I am looking for. I would like to find something that does dolby digital, dts, and possibly 7.1, although the 7.1 isn't an absolute necessity right now nor is dolby-hd.
Has anyone seen something like this that would be fairly reasonable in price? I don't really care about any video switching as I have a dvdo vp30 processor, so that part is covered. Also, number of inputs aren't a concern as I can switch everything via the dvdo. It's just the bare processor that I am missing.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508
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| Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2012 11:40 pm Post subject: |
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A lot of the Pioneer AVR's have a preamp out. I have a 7.1 for sale.
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator
Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:40 am Post subject: |
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Pretty much all the consumer-grade standalone processors were like you said - old - Pro Logic-era stuff. By the time AC-3 came along, everybody was integrating the chipsets into receivers or preamp/processors. In fact, I'm not sure if I remember ever seeing a standalone AC-3 decoder without a gain control (i.e. preamp). Maybe a commercial-grade (theater) unit was a processor-only without gain control, but it would be big, heavy, and expensive if you found one.
Why don't you just use a Blu-ray with a good analog-out stage (Oppo BD-95) and send to your preamp?
SC
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lexx21
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:32 am Post subject: |
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I just took a look at the oppo..... very cool that they output each of the channels.
What I am looking for should have absolutely no preamp capabilities at all since I am going to be using a tube (diy) preamp for this.
I did see some theater decoders however I am really not sure if they would do what I need to or not. They are made to take in a signal from the projector (film) and I would think the encoding would be different. They did look way cool though. I would need to really research how those things operate before getting one just to be sure that it is actually compatible.
Is anyone here using one of those and would that work? The theater dolby unit I mean......
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508
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| Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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Any audio signal is a preamp signal. You can't have a no preamp signal processing anything. Or am I misunderstanding what your trying to say?
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lexx21
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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All I am looking for is a dolby processor which is not part of a regular "preamp"... i.e. a box with a volume control. The device should only take a source input, such as blue ray, hd-dvd, etc... and output the discrete channels to run into separate preamp channels.
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
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lexx21
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2012 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks MacGyver.... that is EXACTLY what I am looking for. It will do 5.1, which is cool for my purposes right now (would need to build 2 more amps for 7.1.... lol. Haven't found the iron that I want for that yet.
My pre-amp is based on a decware preamp, so that's why I didn't want another "preamp", like marantz or yamaha, so to speak as the source. I don't build tone controls into my equipment, so I was trying to avoid something like that like the plague.
I really appreciate the help on this. My ebay searches didn't even show that decoder at all yesterday.
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Boilermaker
Joined: 21 May 2006
Posts: 527
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| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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Just to be sure that you know that these will only handle the Dolby Digital and DTS, but not the new lossless codecs such as Dolby True Hd, etc.
Also won't handle SACD or DVD audio.
Bob
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