AV Receiver Underpowered?

I did this same thing just a few days ago...added Emotiva multichannel amp and now use my Marantz as a preamp. VERY noticeable change and wish I would have done this a long time ago.

Unfortunately I don't have the pre-outs with the AVR 1908. I don't think I am able to add to this am I? I was assuming I had to replace, just not sure if I need power or it is the "sound" of denon I am missing. It just has always sounded somewhat muted compared to my old onkyo.

I checked out the Emotiva site and saw they partnered with Sherbourn. They have a Sherbourn PT-7020A on sale. It has the pre-outs so I could "add" an amplifier later.

Anyone have experience with the Sherbourn? Would it be a decent upgrade to what I have or should I look to buy something just being released. (I think it's the 1.3hdmi, not sure what 1.4 brings to the table.)

Look at the rear of your AV1908. Look for the word caution inside a box. Above the work Caution there are 2 triangles. Once you locate that box with the 2 triangles, look to the left. Those are your preouts.

"I checked out the Emotiva site and saw they partnered with Sherbourn. They have a Sherbourn PT-7020A on sale. It has the pre-outs so I could "add" an amplifier later."

Butrflynlambie,

The Sherbourn PT-7020A is a preamp/processor so you would have to "add" an amp at the same time. No onboard amplifiers. But with the discounted price of $399.00, adding a quality mid-fi 5 or 7 channel amp like the Emotiva XPA-5 V2, could be possible for the budget minded.

Bill

I did something similar with my Denon *BUT*, I also had to upgrade to a Denon that had pre-out (don't buy an amp and be disappointed you can actually hook it up). I had to go up to a 3313 to get pre-out (nothing lower had pre-out) and bought an Emotiva amp. I had my earlier Denon hooked up with bi-amp, which does push some more power to the speakers (at least for stereo). Switching to Emotiva xpa-5 to power the surround system made a HUGE difference (no longer bi-amped though).