Integra Research RDC-7 => 7.1 upgrade/trade-in announcement? - Page 2

He seems to be having trouble getting the photos off his phone ... and I don't want to pressure him as he is doing it as a favour.

I really wish I'd had my 4Mp digital camera with me ... damn !!!

If I get the photos I will post them immediately.

Does it look like this or it is redesigned?

http://www.audioholics.com/ces/ces20...earch_rack.jpg

From memory it still looks very similar to that ... but it's actually not the front photo I really wanted to post ... but the rear one showing the back panel fully loaded with cards.

Just got off the phone with IR. The RDC-7.1 will now be available in fall ( 2004???). I'm 99% sure I will get the Anthem D1 instead.

R

At the rate the delays are going, we might be lucky to see it by the January 2005 CES. Did you inquire about the reason for the delays?

Brian

Yes, I asked, they didn't know. I've dealt with IR many times, most of the time the people who answer the phone don't know much.

R

!@#$%^&

Well I hope you're wrong ... I was definitely told "two months".

This is bad news. At least my RDC-7 will be current for a little while longer

I'm not surprised at all that they told you that it will be available in 2 months and that they told me this fall. A few months ago I called IR to ask if the RDC-7 warranty was transferable or not: twice I was told that it was and twice that it wasn't. They probably don't know what's going on.

R

I think the D1 is definitely going to "scoop" the next round of (high end) DPL IIx pre/pros. Hopefully it lives up to the rep of the AVM-20.

Called IR again, different CSR, this is the info I got:

1. The 7.1 will be available sometime this summer.

2. There will NOT be a trade-in program offered to the owners of the RDC-7.

3. The Integra DTC-9.4 will not be upgraded to DPLIIx and they have no info on a replacement model.

If in the US you too can call them at 1-800-225-1946.

R

I stopped by an IR dealer today and he told me that his rep told him that the RDC-7.1 will be out either in December 2004 or in January 2005. According to the rep, IR has software problems with the new unit.

R

Razvanel,

You posted earlier about bass management problems with your RDC7.
Do you own the earlier RDC7 with the fixed 80Hz crossover or the newer one with user selectable ranging from 40 to 120Hz?

You also mentioned that you got it from an out of state dealer for a great deal. I will PM you about this. Thanks in advance.

I sold my RDC7 a few months ago. The unit had the 80Hz fixed crossover but I later upgraded it to the 40-120Hz selectable crossover. In both cases the bass management sucked. The RDC7 has double-bass and compresses the sound when the subwoofer setting is set to "on". My unit wasn't defective as I checked several others and they all behaved in the same way. If you can live with its compressed sound go for it - it's very reliable, easy to use, and looks good.

R

TM,

I heard the same via email from IR's customer service manager.

I stopped by the Integra booth at CEDIA. They had the IR DVD player, amp, and RDC7.1 pre/pro on display. I asked them when they would all ship and was told that the amp has been ready for some time and will be released with the pre/pro, which should be ready to to ship in October. The rep did state that it was announced at CES and that they had missed their date several times, so he said the official word was 4th quarter 2004 just to be safe. The DVD player is a different story. They're having delays because they want their internal scaler to convert incoming HDMI content to higher resolutions before going to the HDMI output.

They also answered my previous questions about rack mounting. All Integra / Integra Research products have optional rack ears that attach to the side of the chassis.

I didn't think to ask about trade-in; it'd been so long since I looked at this thread I forgot about that question.

Wow, ready in October! I was hearing late this year/early next year rumors. Hope this turns out to be true, as this has lots of possiblilities.

Carlton,

Did you manage to get a demo of how those new models sounded? On the HDMI upscaling, I remember some discussion about the RDC-7.1 upscaling S-video and composite before sending the video signal to the HDMI output. That could delay the HDMI expansion board, but I don't see why it would delay releasing the rest of the boards or the main unit.

Brian

Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the new IR products in the listening room. Even if they did, I'm not sure that it would have been a very good sound demonstration. The speakers were hidden in the walls and I couldn't tell if they were of high quality or not. The volume level was set fairly low when I walked into the room and they were playing Blue Man Group in DTS, not an ideal demo. No one came in to do an official presentation so after sitting there for a couple of minutes, I moved on. If the RDC-7.1 does upscale interlaced video to the HDMI output, that would make it an even more desirable piece. I hope it turns out that that is the case. I didn't hear any mention of that feature but I didn't ask either.

I can't wait to see if Integra Research will offer a trade-in program or not. A few months ago it looked as if they would.

R

I am an Integra Research dealer and got a "tour" of products from an Integra employee. I never heard of a trade-in program and I am very sure they would have mentioned it. As far as the delivery time, I was told November.
Same goes for the Integra receiver as I guess the boards are interchangeable between both units. The obvious question was "what is the difference in the front end" and the Integra tour guide did not know for sure.
If they would have shipped in June as promised they would have mopped-up over the last several months. I am personally waiting for this one in my system to see if it cuts it sonically because it certainly does technically.

Carlton, it was nice to meet you as well in Indy... Small world.

Hey Steve, great to meet you as well. It's funny to talk to someone in person for 10 minutes before you figure out that you've known them via phone conversations for a couple of years! I hope the RDC-7.1 ship date doesn't slip past November and I look forward to hearing your opinion regarding sonic performance. If it lives up to expectations, it will be a perfect companion to the Gemstone Audio 7-channel amp I plan to purchase.

Steve,

Wow; is there any decent product that you are NOT a dealer of .
As far as sonics, what was your opinion of the previous RDC 7 in that regard, compared to comparably priced competition like B&K, Krell, Anthem, Bryston, Halo, etc?

The Integra and onkyo players are shipping, so one would expect that the RDV-1.1 wouldn't be far behind unless they've decided to do something different with it. The Integra player will deinterlace and scale s-video and composite inputs, and the RDV-1.1 was to add component to this and HDMI switching for an HDMI passtrough input, if memory serves. If they want to scale the HDMI input, that would require a redesign of the software at least. If they want to deinterlace and scale a 1080i HDMI input, they'll need new hardware too, since the SIL 504 deinterlacing chip only works with 480i material.

I hope that the shipping RDC-7.1 employs Silicon Image's new multichannel HDMI chip in the HDMI switching module, since that chip is now shipping in some products, such as the Denon DVD 3910.

Does anyone know who to talk to at IR, not that Lincoln has moved on?

Has anybody seen any pictures of the the back of the RDC-7.1? I have seen the DTR-10.5 and the TX-NR1000 backs and I would imagined the cards are the same, but I am curious to see the dual 7.1 Multi-Channel Preouts and the other goodies.

I haven't seen pictures, but have seen outline drawings that were given out by IR at CES to another AVS member. They are too big to post here, though. The pic of the front which used to be up on IR's Public Relations Co's website was pulled a month or two after it was posted, and still is not back up.

"Does anyone know who to talk to at IR, not that Lincoln has moved on?"

Well, call Integra Research and ask to speak to the new customer service manager.

R