Which is better: separates or receiver?

Kt, and jerie make good points. If you max out your budget and get used gear you can get a good seperates system, but if you also think about getting a near top of the line receiver like the Denon AVR5700
second hand as wel,l you can have almost every function you need at under $1400, leaving some room for cables. Michael Fremer stated in the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater that the DAC's in the 5700 were worth the price of the receiver alone and that it reminded him of the awesome Linn system for 5.1 channel use. It is very easy to think of the budget without cables, but if you choose wisely you will get a significant improvement in sound. IMO they don't often come cheap, I have heard many very good cables that are reasonable, but no great cables at the lower price ranges. To be specific I think you may need to spend at least $750 on speaker cables and interconnects to get it right.

By a wide margin the best bang for buck is a receiver. Denon, Onkyo/Integra, Yamaha, Pioneer/Elite, Sony, etc. all make perfectly usable products that will stand up to all but the most intense sonic scrutiny. Be sure to match them to reasonably efficient speaker whose impedance doesn't drop below 6 ohms. My recommendation is to not go over $2,000 on the receiver. Theoretically, separate components can provide superior performance when compared to a receiver, but unless you're willing to provide a dedicated room with extensive sound treatment these advantages will not be realized.

I think that Onhwy61 misses the mark ... a carefully matched system does not need a dedicated room with sound treatment to reach higher than a lesser receiver based system!!! The room IS important, but not likely to mask the difference between systems. My "non-dedicated" room is not a factor when I change something as "subtle" as a cable!! Buy used, shop carefully and you will far exceed a new system at the same price point. Leave a sizable chunk for cabling your system. This I have learned the hard way. If you plan to have any distance at all between any parts of your system, plan on even more for cables.

If you go the receiver route check out the tread on b&k vs denon and you will find 28 to one in favor of b&k.

But like I said again, that would depend on how far Emily wants to go. If all she and hubby wants to do mostly is look at movies and all, then I wouldn't advise her, per se, to purchase separates. If all she and hubby is going to do is look at movies, then there are a number of very good "top-of-the-line" A/V Receivers available for about $3K (like I said, there are models from Denon and Marantz, but I would also like to add Yamaha, Rotel, Pioneer Elite and Sony ES to the mix), some for considerably less than $3K. But now on the other hand, if she and hubby are music buffs and all, then I would say she should go for something more ambitious than an A/R Receiver (and that means separates). If I were to go the separates route, then I could do one of the following.

(01). Rotel RSP-985 Pre/Pro -- $1,200.00 + Rotel RMB-1075 5 Channel Power Amp -- $1,300.00.

(02). Adcom Tuner/Pre/Pro -- $1,500.00 + Adcom GFA-7500 5 Channel Power Amp -- $1,500.00 (Just like Jerie has said).

OR

(03). Lexicon DC-1 Pre/Pro -- $1,300.00 (Used) + Outlaw 5 Channel Power Amplifier -- $1,100.00 (on the internet only..... @ www.outlawaudio.com).

But whatever she decides to do, I'm sure she and hubby are going to be quite happy.

I wish her the best of luck.

--Charles--