upgrading to separates

[keeneyrm01]

I was just wondering peoples suggestions for a good amp and receiver preamp combo in a budget price range. A few months ago i upgraded my receiver from a budget Harman to a Sony DH800 cause i was able to get it for very cheap. I knew I would still want to upgrade to separates eventually but still have a little while before i'll have extra money for that seeing that i have one year of college left.

My sony doesn't have preamp outputs so i would need to get a new receiver or preamp along with an amp. I was looking at the emotiva amps as those seem to be decent power and quality in a reasonable price range. Would it be worth it to buy a nicer receiver if i'll just end up bypassing the built in amps anyway or should i just get the cheapest one that has preamp outputs and lossless decoders?

Also it looks like a lot of people use external 3 or 5 channel amps and power the surrounds with the receivers amps. Is it easy to balance the speakers when the front 3 are getting 200 watts of high current power and the surrounds are getting the typical low watt receiver power?

[PSOVLSK]

...just get the cheapest one that has preamp outputs and lossless decoders?


This would be my suggestion. Maybe even look into separates, but I doubt you could stay within your budget and get a pre- with the new codecs.

I own an XPA-5 that I bought used for a great price, but if you're looking to get a new Emo, most people here will agree that you can get a better used amp for around the same money. Check www.audiogon.com and look for Carver, Parasound, Adcom, Outlaw, Sunfire. May as well look for Emotiva used too, you might find a great deal like I did.

You didn't mention your budget specifically, but my recommendations are for and AVR and amp for around $1000 ($400-500 for the AVR and $500-600 for the amp).

[keeneyrm01]

i don't have a set budget yet because i don't plan on doing this for a little while, probably at least a year. I was trying to just get some ideas and suggestions about what others have had good results with.