Just Curious - About using a AV Receiver as main unit

Millercarbon has a knee-jerk reflex where has has to call all HT stuff crap. He has a big negative attack especially on AVRs. I wouldn’t take his comments too seriously.

That being said, there is a small grain of truth in his comment (however, a very small one). It is trued that AV receivers can give a nice bang for the buck, but the preamp sections are not really going to compete with dedicated preamps. Part of the problem is that everything runs off one main shared power supply, and it’s always a power supply that is severely undersized (especially for the amp boards). The compensation for that is that receivers usually run at higher voltage (such as 60 or 70 volts DC). The preamp circuits are just regulated down from that. Or they may be run off a separate switching power supply.

A receiver is not going to compete with a dedicated HT pre/pro (which has no amp part). Some exceptions might be Anthem and Arcam.

If a AVR receiver is what you have to start with due to budget constraints, then go for it.  It is an okay platform "to start with".  If you have to budget for a dedicate HT processor, that would be significantly better.

The different from top of the line AVR than average AVR is the power supply, for example, Marantz SR-14 all five channel @1kHz measured continuous output power:
8 ohm 139.4 W 138.6 W 138.6 W 138.6 W 139.4 W
4 ohm 205.9 W 205.9 W 201.6 W 208.8 W 203.1 W
Front two channel only:
8 ohm 165.7 W 166.9 W
4 ohm 274.2 W 276.3 W
Not too many stereo integrated amp can deliver this kind of power!

   If we're all now misguided enough to treat hypothetical posts seriously, then the solution for this phony scenario is not difficult:


     A used Oppo 105 connected directly to an individual's choice of amp or amps will outperform virtually any AVR ever produced.  The sound quality levels achieved will depend on the combination of either new or used, multi-channel, stereo or mono and quality levels of the amps chosen. And it's a high quality universal video and audio disc player, to boot.  
What's left to hypothetically discuss? 

I have an old Denon 4806 as the hub of my system and its incredibly versatile and sounds amazing to me whether I'm playing DSD through Denon link and doing room correction in the digital domain using Audessy or switching through numerous components hooked up for maximum quality playback (ex. Node 2i decoding mqa via its internal dac, Node 2i to external Doge 7 tube dac streaming hi res, Pioneer reference BD09fd playing hi res surround through its Wolfson dacs in dual mode and sending video (only) through HDMI, two channel DSD via Sony EX SACD player or the cd layer as transport to the tube dac, etc., etc. There are practically endless permutations you can explore and compare with a click of your AVR remote. These AVRs can shut off the circuits not being used and as far as I can tell are more versatile. sophistcated, and high quality then alot of stuff sold today and you can find lots of reviews to get the best for pennies on the dollar. The Denon and Pioneer reference quality mid to late 2000s AVR and Blue Rays had separate hdmis for video and sound AND external analog inputs! You are free to play any source hooked up any wau you could possibly need (unlike most of todays stuff with very limited connections). Sure, you can buy a multi thousand dollar prepro but a reference quality Pioneer or Marantze Blue ray might sound just as good for a fraction of the cost. My experience is limited but I seriously doubt I'd be blown away by separates as the original poster stated as powerful and sophisticated as these 3 to 4k Denon's were back in the mid to late 2000s. Of course, cheap AVRs are always crap but u can buy super high quality used for pennies on the dollar these days that wasn't designed for obsolecence like so many of today's products. Sound quality used to be a mainstream thing back in those days. You don't have to buy these botiquey esoteric brands and chotchski's costing thousands for every piece in the audio chain to get good sound. Buy quality used components and put the savings into better speakers. All that being said, I love my new tube dac and its not like anyone is really stuck with the dac the comes in their amplifier.