Looking for 2 channel improvement Is there a lot of improvement running tunes through integrated compared to a 2 channel amp going through av receiver?
Personally I would go with a good integrated-amplifier rather than receiver driving an amp. There are a number of good ones in every price tier
I have receiver and 2 channel amp now.. Good ..but would like a improvement Integrated with a bypass for HT is the way to go? Or not enough improvement for the money ? Or keep saving for retirement system with separates.. unfortunately the retirement is a ways away yet Cheers
Try your receiver (Anthem?) With a Parasound 2-channel power amp, or other of your choice. There are AVRs with good 2-channel sound but are expensive. I'd try with the Parasound. Make sure you can return it if not satisfied. And you can always recoup by selling your integrated.
I’m currently driving Anthem mca225 for stereo it’s going through the mrx720.. Will an integrated with a bypass give me an improvement over current setup?
This week I just upgraded my gear to separates, but for the last 3 years I have been using a Parasound HINT 6 with a home theater bypass to drive my two channel system. I had purchased a Yamaha Avantage RX-A1070 in 2017 at Best Buy. I was never totally satisfied with the sound for 2 channel listening. I found I was getting listener fatigue after about 45 minutes of high volume listening 80-85 db. The problem with many AVR's these days is as they add more channels, more surround decoding options, networking protocols and streaming services something has to give. It is either raise the price or "value engineer" the receiver to keep the price down. I think often it is the power supply and the ability to drive high loads that suffers. I visited my stereo dealer who I had discovered right next door to that same Best Buy, several months after buying my AVR. He suggested the Parasound HINT 6 integrated amp with a home theater bypass. I immediately noticed a profound difference in the sound - all of it for the better. Even more amazing was my wife noticed the difference. We had listened to the 50th anniversary Beatles White Album box set on the Friday night before. On Saturday I went out and bought the HINT 6. My wife was out when I went out and came back with the HINT 6. She knew I was looking but had no idea I was going to actually buy something that same day. Audition yes, buy no. I had it all set up and runningwith the boxes all stored away when she returned home. I was again listening to the White Album LOUD. She came in to the listening room and immediately said: "Wow!! What did you change? It sounds even better than last night." A few months later I replaced the Yamaha and relegated it to the Living Room. I replaced it with an Anthem MRX-720 for home theater use. The difference was Anthem had all the bells and whistles, but they didn't compromise the basics to maintain a low price. It was far more money than the Yamaha, but again I heard the difference right away for multi-channel use. There was even more improvement when I used ARC (Anthem Room Correction). It was far superior to YPAO which is Yamaha's room correction. So yes an integrated amp with home theater bypass can sound for better that an AVR if you choose the right one.
was going to suggest exactly this integrated Had that one for a couple of years and it was great. Only sold it to fund my end-game (haha) Luxman L509X.
Yes the same here. I only sold it to help fund my retirement system, a JC2 BP and a JC 5. I also traded in my JC3 Jr for a JC 3+.
I base this on no experience, only an uninformed, knee jerk reaction. I would not want AV components in the chain for stereo. It is an impression that AV systems tend to do things to the sound that I would enjoy while watching Star Wars but not while listening to Debussy or Bill Evans.
Not if you have run the ARC to smoothen the bass response-and if you haven't you should definitely try it. The ARC Genesis in our AVM 70 really flattened a bass sweep, especially for the front right Focal 936 which is in a corner. Also if you have/might get a sub, a lot of integrated fail by not having bass management (even, most idiotically, if they have a "Subwoofer" out)
Not really. A preamp and power amp take up no more room than an integrated amp and poweramp. Cost for a decent pre should be less than an equivalent integrated , or better quality for the same.
OP, what exactly is missing in your current setup? What do you want to improve? Did the arc genesis software show any room issues after you do multi-points measurements? Remember that the software cannot really solve room nulls, even if the software showing issue is solved. Do you have ability to use REW to check your actual frequency response?
Unless real estate is limited, use the AVR as a preamp into a high quality power amp. Then eventually upgrade to a good 2-channel preamp with HT bypass. Separates nearly always outperform integrateds, at least, concerning integrateds under $8K or so. For example, your AVR into a Parasound A21 amplifier will almost certainly outperform a Parasound Hint 6 integrated. Even if the AVR/Amp combo isn’t better initially, you’ll get integrated-beating performance once you replace the AVR with a decent stand alone preamp. The lowest cost integrated I would remotely entertain as a replacement for $1600 worth of my Topping/Parasound separates is the Yamaha A-S3000 at ~$6000. Beyond that I would go for a $13K Boulder or Gryphon Diablo. AVRs, even rather expensive ones, are mostly pathetic for 2-channel. Just use them for the DSP and surround processing which is about all they’re good for.
My first amp in 30 years was a Sony STRdhn 190 for about $150. It's av AV receiver. I bought it for use with a two channel stereo system. It did a decent job. Next, I purchased a Yamaha RS 202 receiver for about $199 This was not billed as an AV, but a basic receiver. As such, I was pleasantly surprised by the upgraded SQ. The 202 had much better imaging and separation. Finally, I now own A Yamaha S501 Integrated amp. It is much better in all areas compared to the 202. Of course the cost was approx $550. This is not to say a receiver can sound as good as or superior to an integrated amp. In fact, I'm sure there are, but they will have a high cost. I've noticed several manufactures are producing AV receivers that are very much high end as is the cost. All things being equal, an integrated amp will produce better sound than a receiver. That would be my choice. However, keep in mind, the intigrated amp will prob cost more than the receiver unless you go with a high end receiver.
- Buying a AV receiver is a mistake, i.e., Sharing a power supply with the preamp sections/source components and a multichannel power amp in the same chassis is a mistake. - Buy separates, i.e., a multichannel preamp processor and a separate combination of stereo power amps/multichannel power amps. It will do justice to a multichannel music setup and also beat the living daylights out of most dedicated stereo gear in the same price point. The fidelity of such systems is so high that you really wouldn't need anything separate for stereo if you went this route. Your multichannel rig would have also gone up several notches.
An integrated amplifier is simply a receiver without a radio tuner. I am not sure what you are trying to achieve here given the equipment you already have?
Yes, I agree. However, manufactures seem to make intigrated amps with better fidelity than receivers. This us not universal, but in most incidents it's the case.
Not my experience at all. Keep in mind that some AVRs give you a lot of options as far as how you want the sound to be reproduced so if you don't want any processing added just press the "Direct" or "Pure Direct" button and you'll get your sound straight from the player. I have a Denon 4310 which has everything I need whether I want stereo or MCH , and I also have a Roksan K3 connected to the AVR mainly for stereo purposes.
