Cheap receiver + amp vs Expensive receiver

Hi,
I am a retired EE background and advanced amateur musician(low brass, still active) but never possess natural musical talent. When I purchase something, I get prosumer model. The quality of a product improves on linear curve until it hits the plateau where the improvement starts to crawl compared to the cost. That's where I quit spending $$$. I stop at best bang for the buck. As an amateur that is good enough for me. I still work on tube amps and will build one if some one asks me to his specs. but at almost 70, my eyes bother me now for good soldering job. I am Mil-spec./SMT soldering certified.

This is impossible to answer due to too many variables, but keeping it general...

If you're using this setup strictly for HT (where sound quality is not the only focus) I would tend to doubt the preamp section of a $1500 receiver will make a huge difference over that of a $500 receiver when paired with a good amp. That said, using the pre/pro section of a cheap receiver (or even a more expensive one) in front of a good amp is a bit of a waste since you likely won't hear all the benefits that amp can bring. I think it's all about balance, and in audio the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. If you care enough about sound to invest in a decent amplifier then your long-term goal should be to pair it with a decent pre/pro, so starting with a cheap receiver as a pre/pro could make sense if upgrading to a better pre/pro when funds allow is the ultimate goal.

The problem with a more expensive receiver is a lack of flexibility. You're stuck with the amp and pre/pro packaged together, and using the pre ins/outs when you upgrade to a better amp or pre/pro seems kinda silly to me if you're spending a good amount of money on the whole unit. At least with separates you can sell off the piece you're looking to upgrade, which can be a nice benefit especially on the pre/pro end since formats/connections/DSP will undoubtedly continue to evolve.

Anyway, I don't think I answered your question but I'd be careful about spending a lot on a HT receiver because you start to run up against the cost of decent quality separates and their inherent advantages (separate/beefier power supplies, better shielding, flexibility, etc.). Best of luck.

Hi, thanks to you all.

Actually most of my budget was spent, and will be spent in the future, on the 2 channels system. HT is an after thought. (i.e. I won't spent the $ on a Krell or a brand new Anthem etc, I'll spent the $ on the 2 channels sys instead)

However, HT is something my whole family enjoys. Currently, I have a Harmon Kardon HK635, which is a pre-HDMI era receiver (it's resell value is like dirt right now). After the HK635, I learned that the digital front end is so easily and quickly becoming obsolete.

I do believe good amps are always worth the $.

So I was thinking, asumming my budget is less than $2000, if I get a good ~$1000-$1200 used power amp, and mate it with a $500-600 current receiver (e.g. Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer), I'll have a good analog amp and the most recent decoding front end. (I know the analog preamp sucks but it's all about picking the lesser evil).

Another option is to have the pre-out from the receiver as an input to my 2 channels setup using HT bypass. But I dislike the idea of buring 11 tubes for watching TV and movies.

Cheers,

K

Man, given your priorities (which are identical to mine by the way) I'd buy one of the brands you mentioned in the $500 range with the audyssey room correction built in and be done with it. Take the grand you save and put it into your 2-channel rig and/or more music. I seriously doubt inserting a $1000 amp into your HT system in the way you propose will make that big of a difference in how much you enjoy movies (I'm assuming you're currently using a sub, but if you're not THAT is where the additional money would be best spent rather than on an amp). As always, I could be wrong.

Can I make a comment on "prosumer". I totally disagree. Consumer gear like HK gives you as many features as possible for the buck. Pro gear like QSC gives you a bulletproof design and reliability for the buck. Both have made huge compromises to get where they are. That's where high end audio fits in. An Anthem unit will have lots of feature and should have great reliability with the best technology they can reasonably put in the gear. The Anthem will have better quality parts, better remote controls, better DAC's and Video processing and so on...over the HK. An Anthem amp will keep up with the volume level of a QSC (to a certain extent) but with much lower distortion levels and way better imaging.