Amplifier & Pre/Pro Manufacturers

[Travis]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF RECEIVERS VS SEPARATE AMPLIFIERS

Advantages of Receivers
A receiver consists of three or four components: preamp/processor (all the switching and processing are done there), Tuner (AM/FM), and an Amplifier.
Receivers are convenient.
Receivers are affordable.
Receivers take less space

Disadvantages of Receivers
In a receiver, the three components above share the same power supply, circuits, etc.
Many compromises in the design of receivers.
Receivers have less power than amplifiers (less than 170 watts).
Receivers may not be able to drive high quality, large, and inefficient speakers.
Most receivers may have difficulty driving 4 ohm speakers.
Audio quality is not as good as separates.
They have less headroom and may clip faster.
May generate too much heat.

Advantages of Amplifiers
Amplifiers have their own higher-quality power supply.
Some high-end amplifiers have a different power supply for each channel.
Amps do not share their parts with any other components.
Generally speaking, amplifiers have more wattage. Some can handle 500 watts or more.
They have a lot more headroom.
They can easily drive 4 ohm speakers.
Audio quality is much better.
Can mix and match with speakers and other components.
You can brag more.

Disadvantage of Amplifiers
They are less convenient.
You normally need three components to do the job of one receiver.
They can take more space.
They are more expensive.
Your electric bill may run higher.
Setup can be more complex.

I use my Denon receiver as a Pre/Pro. I only use the pre-amp portion and the built-in audio codecs of the receiver. I use separate amplifiers to drive all my speakers. Even my subwoofers are passive and are driven by separate amplifiers. The speakers have different impedances. The amplifiers handle them with ease and can play very loud without clipping.

I have done some testing with the receiver versus amplifier. The audio quality of the amplifiers is significantly better.

Very interesting.

A few questions...
1. What size, and price, of speakers justifies buying seperates?
2. Should Blu-ray users seek out seperates, since decoding is usually done onboard Blu-ray players?
3. How much is the minimum one could expect to spend on a system of seperates that would be better than A/V reciever like Onkyo 706 or Marantz SR6003, etc?