125 watt or 80 watt?

I think at your pricepoint you may end up with a bunch of antiquated junk if you are not careful. The only way to get the latest features at that price is an AVR.

I had a Onkyo 805 for a while and it is a nice AVR with all of the most current features - bitstream D/A conversion of CD/SACD, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master Audio, etc. and Audyssey room correction. It is also very powerful and has a very good power supply (it weighs over 50 lbs!). Just pair it up with a Oppo 980H universal player ($150 on Amazon.com) and you are good to go.

Since the 806 just came out, you should be able to find a 805 cheap ($400-$500) if you are patient. This unit does run hot so you will need fans - I used dual fans that I bought on ebay - they plug directly into the AC outlet on the back of the AVR. Very nice. You will be pleased.

i totally understand where you are coming from, but what is wrong with having a new pioneer with the carver supplying the power, it has all the same features with updated hd audio, and the carver would supply good power, am i missing something in this whole thing? Wouldnt an amp be better sounding than an avr receiver, and i can still get the hd audio with the pioneer? Would this happen to be your ad on ebay?

well i did some researching on the onkyo it sounds like everything i was wanting. But, i still would like to know if it would sound better than a seperate amp like the carver.

Hey man, that hurts! I would never try to solicit a sale on a post without saying so - my ebay ID is 'crossramz28' - you can see that I am not the seller.

As for the Pioneer VSX 819: it retails for $299. That means the dealer pays $180 (60%). That probably means that the total cost to manufacture it is about $75 (COGS) if that. How good do you think a full-featured AVR can be for $75 COGS?? The best amp in the world cannot sound better than the preamp driving it. Think about it.

But this is the most important concern: I looked at the 819 on Pioneer's website. The spec page only says that it has "sub/surround back L/R" preamp outputs. If that is true, you cannot do what you are trying to do if there are no L/C/R/LR/RR preamp outs.

http://www.pioneerusa.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AV-Receivers/PioneerReceivers/ci.VSX-819H-K.Kuro?tab=B

haha you know i was just messin with you, yea that hurts bad about that pioneer...i did not even see that! You know anyone trying to get rid of that onkyo around audiogon or anyone you know? OR do you have any other suggestions about recievers in that price range...i heard that it doesnt do dolby THD?