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Just Curious - About using a AV Receiver as main unit

Just curious about something.

I know it is preferable to use a Integrated Amp or Pre-Amp+Amp combo as your main unit in the system but sometimes I see used AV's receivers see from manufacturers who make really good high end 2 channel equipment and these receivers sell for less then say a 2 channel component from the same manufacturer (units from say Rotel, Anthem, Arcam, Marantz, etc). Also, since we are talking about AV Receivers, I guess it's fair to compare them to SS Amps. If your into Tubes, then that is whole different story.

I wonder sometimes if you start a build using one of the AV receivers instead of the 2 channel component, would that be a good system to build off of.

I will say for myself, I started with a Denon AVR-5700 (which I still have and was a beast in it's day) and I think it was an excellent piece of equipment and had a great 2 channel section.

Last year I bought a Integrated amp but honestly, I could have easily stayed with the Denon and build off of that.

Sure, these AV's receivers wont compare to components that are way up there in the thousands but if your budget is bit tight I think these components would be great to start with and I am not talking about your $400 dealer receiver from best buy, I mean AV's receivers that were top of the line in their day and now can be had for much cheaper. 

Well just curious and my opinion.

Thanks
128x128jay73
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
You can use it, you’ll most likely clip the receiver.     If you don’t listen loud, sure, use it. 
   When I transitioned to separates, I have not looked back.

play what you have!
enjoy the journey!
g_nakamoto's avatar
g_nakamoto
348 posts
 
i only listen to 2 chanell stereo. i bought a mcintosh mx132 as a pre-amp tuner to mathch my mc602 power amp. is this a good choice???
nnsixx's avatar
nnsixx
26 posts
 
Also, for 4k these days you can stream in dolby vision and run optical to your old AVR in 2 channel, or to play 4k blue rays in surround buy a cheap 4k player and run hdmi to your old AVR and picture is still amazing but not 4k I guess. I'm more a sound person so I'm more impressed with the old players with high end dacs to play 5.1 blue ray audio than I am concerned about picture quality when I can alternatively stream and play 4k dolby vision. That is about the only constraint I can think of in using a mid 2000s high-end AVR (not having 4k + surround at the same time)]. If you looked at the features on one you might be surprised and how they upsample and do sophisticated processing and I'm not talking about cheesy DSP effects either. We are talking decoding dsd, bass management in the digital domain, 24 bit processing, and ability to handle a multitude of popular codecs. I'm sure dolby has some new thing but I haven't been particuarly limited on any media I"ve wanted to play to this date. These things are very deep monstrosities though weighing over 50lbs so that's another BIG constraint for most people. Lots of fantastic opinions and info in this thread. Thanks to the original poster for asking such a great question even if my opinion is in the minority.

nnsixx's avatar
nnsixx
26 posts
 
It doesn't clip. In fact it goes from -100 to +12 db and at 0db it is very loud! Seriously, if you don't have direct experience with the models being spoken about you really have no idea. Its driving my KEF R200s. Kef 1600 center, Kef surrounds and Martin Logan sub effortlessly as far as I can tell. It does get warm but it rocks on movies or music and I 've never heard clipping. When I first got my Kefs and a panasonic dvd multichannel I was playing Come Together in surround and the martin logan was sliding on the floor and you could hear it down the street. No clipping or distortion, just lennons voice clearer then I ever heard it coming from the center channel and amazing drums. That was playing it extremely loud at maybe +4. Aerosmiths SACD of Toys in the Attic breathes new life into the album. People would be blown away if they listened to dsd with good 5.1 speakers being fed 140 watts per channel. Elton John's tumbleweed connection is an absolute revelation compared to its stereo counterpart. One of the best albums I've ever heard.

 
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