New home theater setup

I'm sorry. I missed that! DID SOMEONE JUST CHALLENGE ME TO AN AUDIO SYSTEM THROW DOWN?! LOL! That is funny. Yeah, let me just throw my audio system in a car and make the trip! LOl!
I'm sorry, but I apparently missed the last part of your CHALLENGE, Zydo! BBUUAAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Wow. that has to be THE BEST response comment I've heard on this forum in a long long time! Lol lol lol ..Good suff, indeed. And, NO, the Arcam will never ever ever be able to do full justice to my very power hungry Electa Amators, nor some Appogies, or other full range 4ohm difficult load speakers. IT'S A RECEIVER! Albeit a nice one for what is is, admittedly.
Zydo, you didn't quantify what kind of music, source material, and also how you set up your system (crossed over as small?), and how loud you play your system! All that makes a difference - especially if you only listen to small instrumental cuts, light chamber music, and vocals, all played at "mouse" volume levels?
Are we driving those larger speakers full range with heavy volume, full scale orchestra, rock, heavy rap/world, metal, or heavy percussive pieces? How about Dolby Movies cranked up? Cause all that makes a huge difference as to whether your Arcam amps can handle the current, big time! It sounds to me like we might be dealing with an opinionated Norah Johnes, Dianna Krall, James Taylor guy, who likes small commedy movie pieces, and maybe Docummentaries, yes? I'm assuming no Metalica, Massive Attack, Floyd, Bob Marley, or Block buster Avengers movies at THX levels? Just curious.
Well anyway, if I could drag a system over to compare the Arcam (again, I know their products well enough) , I'd merely bring over some budget separates setup, like a modest used Harman Kardon AVR354 ($175 used market) receiver, driving out to a parasound HCA1205a ($400 on used market), THAT WOULD BLOW THE DOORS OFF YOUR RECEIVER IN FULL RANGE OPERATION, I'M CERTAIN!...and save a heck of a lot of money in the process! You bet!
My motto is never ever ever spend more than $1000 on some AV receiver, which will be mostly outdated and nearly obsolete in the near future! I always say, anyway.
Put the money into the speakers, first and foremost for the gear! $6000 for A receiver? BBUUAUAAHAHAHAHAH! ...NO! DON'T DO IT! Peace

Av, you really have blown my comments out of proportion.

-My first response to the OP was to add an amp to his set-up.
-I also said I didn't believe everything I read in Peters review. You said "nobody would trade their high end seperates for a recvr" I simply gave you an example of someone that went on the record saying basically just that.
-I also never said it would drive any and every speaker out there. You said it is fine for small bookshelves. I disagree, and gave you examples I had used when I had the 600.
-I also said it isn't a cheap alternative.
-I also said I'm a seperates guy myself, and that my current seperates are better. The 66 was better than my Sunfire seperates, and my Lexicon. The lexicon was quite some time ago however.
-I also said it's not the holy grail of audio.
-I listen at all different volumes, and play a pretty wide range of music. (Yes, Metallica, Floyd, Megadeth) All CD's or DVD's. Classic rock, jazz (both new and classic) Blues. VERY little rap of any kind. No dance or country. Concert DVD's are usually played quite loud. And yes, I play many, many movies of all sorts at different volume, depending on my mood, or the movie.

Your budget system you mentioned won't beat the 600 though. I would be more than willing to give you the chance with it however. And it is as good as average seperates any day. (to me, thats most of them) The old Arcam recvrs you mentioned are not the same thing. Have you even actually listened to a 600, or, are you just assuming?

Av and Zy, when you consider the subjectivity and component synergy that confronts people in this hobby, let alone what the OP is considering, then to a large degree you're guys are both correct. You are also both making a few generalities that seems to be the reason for your disagreement. In any event you're both providing information to the OP.

I auditioned an earlier version of the Arcam and it did sound better than the other receivers I was considering but its feature set was stunningly lacking. It was also a model that I later learned had some reliability issues. I've become quite content with a receiver running my HT only system. Compared to the fidelity of my two channel system it's a joke as are most HT systems. Even so, the room correction, modern codecs, and a massive sub, make my HT very entertaining.

Just how Arcam compares to separate multi-channel power amplifiers is, again, subjective at best. Depending on speaker selection I would agree its almost a given that adding an outboard amp will be an improvement over a receiver. At the same time I've heard some real crapy multi channel amps.

All posturing and bantering aside, I think Vicdamone hits the key points...honestly. ]
I think that should about end things on the Arcam vs separates discussion here, yeah? Lol!