avr receiver help

At $1500 you should be comparing the receivers processors, room correction, transformer capacity or class D operation. Even a high quality FM tuner needs a good antenna in a good location to sound good. While modern receivers are terrific for HT processing they're still lacking when compared to the finesse of even a modest dedicated analog two channel systems ability to soundstage IMO.

Since my experience with room correcting receivers IMO it's more important to get the HT to sound its best. I would give up on the H/K and the Arcam for their dated connectivity and the lack of room correction. I find the drama of music videos and film as important as quality two channel playback. Incorporating HT and two channel can depend on the quality of your existing two channel setup.

Personally I have failed at any attempt at putting a display between my main two channel speakers and still maintain the degree of soundstage I worked so hard to attain. Consequently, I installed my HT in an small and irregular separate space and let the room correction do its job. The fidelity from classical multichannel SACD's has been the biggest surprise through the HT.

i placed my speakers about 2 ft out in front of the ht or closer towards the listening position, the speakers look like an eye soar as they stick out further into the room but it is worth the improvement in the soundstage, i also moved the center channel speaker 2 ft out in front of the ht and what an improvement, the speakers are just about 6 ft from the back wall i tried many different positions and they seem to sound their best in those positions, maybe i should be looking for something with better processers like you said and down the road add some decent amplifiers.
greg

" i saw those adds but i got to make up my mind on what brand receiver is going to work best with my infinity speakers"

Well just consider that you may indeed make up your mind on what reiver to chose. However, to be truthful, you will not know what receiver is going to work best until you try a few! That is THE ONLY WAY to tweak your audio system! You can read all the reviews, and take all the advice off this forum you like. But until you get different pieces in your system to try, you'll just always be guessing.
Wish is was different for you (as with us all). But that's not the way it works. So just keep that in mind, while you try to solve your delimma over these discussions.
There's no free lunch when it comes to perfecting audio systems. And that's years of experience talking.
Anything else is a compromise and a crap shoot, to be true.

Evolving your two channel over the long haul sounds like the smart way to go. You might think about another amplifier and a two channel pre with pass through. These don't need to cost a great deal to achieve that delicate two channel sound. If your speakers have the powered subs you might think about tubes.

You'll find people with more receiver experiences over at the AV forum.

so far i tried a pioneer, h/k and a onkyo in two channel and i think the h/k sounds best so far with the preludes, the reason for my original post was to get an idea of what brands of receivers other prelude owners thought sounded the best with this speaker so that i would have a starting point of wich receivers to listen to, but you are right i'm going to have to go try a few more of them before i find the one that i like, the two channel pre with pass through sounds like a good idea, thanks for all the info.
greg