Receiver with preouts vs pre/pro

Michael, Pre/Pro definately in regards to your reiterated statemen/question. If you think about the cost of a receiver (pre/pro + amplifier combined, which is what the AVR is) vs. a pre/pro for the same price, the pre/pro is putting all of the cost/money into one thing, not trying to do everything at the same budget.

Personally, I think there are great deals on used pre/pros. Secondly, I am totally confused by the HD Audio only being able to be conveyed by the HDMI cable as everything I have read about the HDMI cable clearly states it is not capable of carrying both an HD video signal and even a full resolution audio signal (much less an HD one?).

But, I am a strong believer that the video signal, via HDMI or any other method should not go through the pre/pro or AVR - what good can they be doing the signal? Most current TVs have 2 HDMI inputs anyway for two sources.

I would take the HDMI direct and the audio into the pre/pro via a digital cable. If you have a very, very high end DVD player with spectacular DACs, then it may be better using those DACs and onboard processing and taking the analog 5.1 or 7.1 signal to the AVR or Pre/pro.

If I were you, I wouldn't change what you have. I seriously question that spending $500 is going to give you any improvement in sound quality! I can also tell you from experience that the Totem Arro speakers on an AVR (from Denon 38XX and B&K 507 S2, of which I have owned both)versus a dedicate amp makes a huge difference.

Well I'm no rhodes scholar; (If my post was unclear.) BTW the best 3 years of my life was the time I spent in the second grade.
I own the Onkyo 875 and with the new audio codecs it sounds better than my previous 3k receiver; and this 875 was under a thou. I will lose 2k on the older model,at best. If I threw away the 875, I will only lose 1k.---THIS is what I was referring to.--- I, like many, use outboard amps and do 2ch on a much grander scale.

Avguygeorge,

Just to clarify, do you use the 875 as your 2 channel preamp as well? With what amp and how do you like the results?

You are probably not going to find a pre/pro that does the new audio formats for $500, new or used. You might find a receiver used such as an Onkyo or Denon for that price but even those are not that readily available because they just have not been out that long.

The biggest advantage would be that a pre/pro will cost less than a receiver of the same quality. Unfortunately starting price is about $1600 for a pre/pro such as an Integra dct 9.8.