Have had my Ref 20 for about 2 months now. Have encountered zero problems.
I would recommend this unit to anyone in the market for a pre/pro in the 2k-3k price range.

I am on my 2nd Ref 20. The 1st had s-video problems that must have been a short in it as you tapped the top of the unit it played then would cut out. Lucky I have a great dealer as he gave me a brand new one & guess what the s-video plug to the tv is a bad fit, if you look closely it seems to be chewed up. The sound on the Ref 20 is really great which rates 5 stars but the quality control from B&K rates 0 stars. Their tech support is okay but they blame all there problems on the shipping. Still debating to try one more since the sound is good but there track record isn't, that is there is other letters on their quality control problems.

I also have this preamp for six month now, and I have no problem with it.The sound is great, I just hope that b&k will prove there quality control because the sound quality, if everything work fine, is a blast!!!

The quality control with this company is atrocious. First Ref20: noisy DACs, significant RF leakage, downright awful DPL decoding, transformer hum; yuk. Returned unit, dealer sent me another. Transformer hum and RF problems gone, but now surround processing randomly cuts out in the rear channels, and there is distortion on analog sources (bad ADCs?) I concur with earlier reviewers below that the sound quality of the DACs are a big disappointment: when I ran the analog outs from my Toshiba 3108 DVD into the REf 20 and used stereo direct mode, the sound quality was noticeably better than using the coax digital out from the Toshiba and relying on the Ref 20's DACs.
Bottomline is I think you can do better than this pre/pro. For myself, I'm going upscale to finally get good quality; you get what you pay for. I'm trying to decide between the Meridian 561 and the Theta Casanova.

Finally bought the B&K ref 20 after looking around for something flexible and musical. Spent alot of time trying to find a good path down the middle. My fantasy is to have a dedicated two channel system. My reality is well.. my reality.
The B&K clearly is flexible. More I/O's and control capabilities than in comparable products. Nothing comes close in it's price range although I had a tough time finding the Arcam unit. I was originally sold on the Arcam unit after reading the review, unfortunately I never got to hear one. I love the two zone and video switching.

No noticable video loss with good cables. The internal DAC did not sound as good as my Sony DCPES77's DAC, when using good interconnects (Straight Wire in this case). Although the Sony only has an optical out.

The ARCAM has an optional Phono stage, the B&K does not.

No complaints on the sound. My prior unit was an ADCOM GFP1A (old). Reasonably clean, uncolored and revealing in the 2 channel "direct" mode (you can bypass all the digital stuff) and great with surround material.

As a stereo pre-amp, I would buy another product. As a flexible controller for home theater, audio, and multi-room, not much comes close in the price range.

My volume control loosened up in the first few days of ownership, after tightening the nut on the pot.. its fine now. For that much money, I dont want anything to go wrong.

Using JMLAB 815 speakers and B&K 125 watt amp.

solidly built like a tank, UPGRADEABLE, Excellent remote
controller, an abundance of A/V input/outputs, Solid high end performance!

No component video switching, no user selectable crossover,
No RF input.

I really like this unit! It has all I need right now and
is upgradeable. I haven't had any problems with it and have
had it for about a year. I bought it from the local high
end shop's owner. I had auditioned one there before and was
ready to purchase one but none were in stock. He said he had one at home that he had used for 2 months and that I
could have it for a pretty good discount. Paid $1800 smacks and it was mint/new...the remote was still sealed, he had
a hometheater master remote control he was using. This
is a no compromise unit and when it comes to price/performance ratio, it is unsurpassed! 5 stars.

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