This is a great pre/pro for the price. it has a great sound for home theater use. i matched it with:
Martin-Logan SL3, Logos, Scrips
Classe CAV-150(150x6)
Sony XBR 61"
Denon DVD-5000

It works really well with this system

nice sounding unit.cool looking and nice remote.
the new remote is too star trekish though.
i like the old remote with touchscreen.

i audiotion this piece of art at one local audio store and i was really inpressed with it's sound quality in stereo. it is as good as plain line level preamp from bryston and way better than rotel. i listen to acurus,B&K and lexicon. but at diferent store. form my short memory, i guess the encore is the best, the lexicon also not bad, actually as good as the encore. but the DSP is too much. i'm kinda purist listener and don't really like surround for music listening. i believe this is the best processor for those you don't to sacrifice the stereo listening pleasure as well as got the best surround format without being obselete in a few month. i order the unit straight away replacing my angstrom 100. i will post again after i got my unit.

I traded a DPL version of Lexicon's DC-1 for the Encore back in September, one week later I made a unplanned move and my theatre went into storage for 8 months. I finaly had my theatre set up and WOW great sound in surround and stereo! Sadly I now miss my Lexicon, why you ask? Well ease of use is the reason, and let me tell you the encore sucks large, anybody but the most hard core masochist would loath setup, and day to day use. I haven't had any of the remote problems that the other owners have been having though.
Once again I have to say that this unit sounds excellent, but I guess that's just not enough for me, the next chance I get I'm trading it in on a Lexicon DC-2!

I just received my EAD Encore and do have to say that I am quite impressed with the unit. After many discussions weather to use a Tube preamp over a solid state design I decided on the Encore and could not be happier. The unit presents an extremely clear well spaced soundstage and looks great too. I did receive the nuw remote and would have preffered the older unit, but it seems to work well. Only problem is that I received the new remote and Encore instruction manual, but the manual keeps reffering to the remote's owners manual which I didn't receive with it, so I can't use it as a universal yet.
Great unit

join the theatermaster user group at http://encoreUsers.listbot.comwe can discuss about this unit and get update of the upgrade in the future by sharing information.
i cound not be happier after i upgraded to this processor.
i hope EAD will have the upgrade path as promised when the DVD audio become available.

I'VE HAD THE ENCORE FOR ABOUT 4 MONTHS NOW, AND I STILL HAVE NOT GOTTEN OVER HOW CLEAN AND DETAILED THIS PREPRO SOUNDS.I HAVE THE ENCORE MATCHED WITH 5 PARADIGM LR 450 ACTIVE SPEAKERS AND THE 15" SERVO SUB. I'VE SAT AND LISTENED TO ALOT OF SYSTEMS COSTING 3 TIMES AS MUCH AND NOTHING HAS SOUNDED THIS GOOD.I PREVIOUSLY USED THE ONKYO 939THX AS MY PREAMP AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS NO SLOUCH IN THE PROCEESOR DEPARTMENT. IT DID NOT ATTAIN NEARLY THE SAME LEVEL WHEN IT CAME TO IMAGING AND OVERALL SOUND QUALITY. MY ONLY REAL REGRET WITH PURCHASING THE ENCORE IS THAT I COULD NOT AFFORD THE OVATION. IN MY OPINION IT IS THE BEST PRE-PRO I HAVE HEARD FOR THE MONEY (I'M HOPING TO ONE DAY HEAR THE SIGNATURE ).

Terrific sound, wonderful styling, neat remote - just pray it works!! Echo the sentiments about lack of controls on unit. I had two bad examples - one which would not acknowledge any commands and refused to be re-programmed. The second nearly blew all my drive units / amplifier fuses during auto set-up. My third unit is perfect!
Sound quality is excellent - hence my perseverance!

5 stars for sound, 1 for quaility control!

The EAD Theater Master Encore is the basic model. The Ovation and the Signature offers improved DA/AD sections, HDCD, Reclocking and balanced stereo outputs.
But the Encore perfoms extremly well. And it has all the surround modes you'll need. Dolby Digital , DTS and Pro Logic. It can also handle a MPEG 1 or 2 stream, decoding it to stereo or pro logic.

The build quality is very high. And the front looks like a million buck!

Putting the Encore to the test with music left a smile on my face. This is a very good preamplifier. Everything is clean , well defined and exciting.

With a Dolby Digital source the Encore finds the right surround mode by itself.
The DD track sounded very good. Deep bass and detailes in every speaker. The Cineq, which rolles of the hights, is very good. I used this almost all the time.

The Encore dosen't have a OSD, so you have to use the display on the frontpanel.
It's large enough. And there are so many layouts that can show, temperatur, signal levels and every setting of course.

With the Encore comes a mic. You use this one to calibrate speakerdelay and levels. It takes less then one minute and is very good.

For the price $2500, it is a good combination of exellent soundquality and features. And the look is to die for!

The only drawback is maybe the lack of a OSD. And it's not that easy to setup.

This dts/ac-3/mpeg2 processor is very nice. I have been using it for a month now. It sounds very nice, simple to operate. The remote is great. My hometheaternever sounds this good. The surround effect is so lively; center stage is so natural; the front sound stage is wide and well-defined. In Stereo mode, EAD
performs like a highend pre-amp, thanks to its 20 bit D/A converter. The remote is so cool not as versatile as RC-2000 II though.

Every connection is gold plate, nice built, sexy face plate. Way better than Marantz, AV 550, B&K 4090.

One complaint, the switching between modes is so loud and distracting.