need new seperates on a budget

You have a ton of choices. For brand new separates of mid-fi quality (separate prepro and multi-channel amp), $1600.00 will probably not make it. The NAD T747 is a 60 watt x 7 channel (all channels driven) AVR selling for about $1300.00. Most AVRs today are 7 channel units but if you only use 5, that won't hurt it. NAD as well as Rotel both produce very musical audio equipment. The top of the line Marantz AVR (SR7005) sells for $1599.00 right at your budget. Why not consider another Marantz unit?

I enjoy a used Outlaw Audio Model 990 Pre/Pro along with an Emotiva UPA-7 amp for a multi-channel HT set-up. I don't mind a lot of analog cables and don't need HDMI switching so this works well for me. This combo allowed me to get separates on a budget. Maybe an Emotiva UMC-1 along with an XPA-5 amp could yield good results for you.

Used Anthem 5 x 100 amps are a great bargain. Matching that with a 5 year old pre/pro such as Sherbourn, Anthem, Sunfire, B&K or many more will work in this budget. As long as you don't need HDMI there are a lot of nice choices.

You should look at the Emotiva offerings. An XPA-5 power amp ($899, 200 watts/ch.) mated to a UMC-1 Preprocessor would gige ypu a whale of a good and powerful system for $1600. Or, you could substitue one of their UPA-5 amps (125 watts/ch.)and save yourself about $300.

I have a UMC-1 and really like it. It had some bugs when first released, but the latest firmware is really quite good. And the sound quality is quite good. Definitely one of the better-sounding prepros available today.

These items come up for sale on A'gon and usually sell very quickly. So be ready to pull the trigger when you find what you are looking for...

-RW-