Hi, thanks for a good a well filled response
The main idea for the extra amp on the front speakers is to have more power out when running the 5.1.
The reason I go for two instead of one heavy reciever that would cost the same as the two combined is that recievers get new tech all the time and would likely have to be changed when new tech comes up - while the amp really can go on for ages.
now - I'm new to this and dont actually know what the difference is between an integrated amp and a power amp...
the reason for wanting to try out stereo subs are that music tracks are made stereo.. and even if you cant hear orientation of the deep bass - the frequencies will affect each other the same way they would if there were different bass sounds coming from a live play (like a bass guitar on the left side and another bass instrument on the right) - I'm not sure how much difference it will make - but I will certainly try with mono as well like you recomend and see what I fancy more. for 5.2 surround mono is fir sure the way to go since the subwoofer signal is made and catered for as a mono signal.
About there being no difference in sound between amps sounds strange.. isnt that part of why you would look at more than just the watts and functions of the various amps?
I've heard NAD is powerful, but not so good to reproduce music as some other amps - and also that a good dedicated integrates stereo amp will beat most avr recievers with all their tech when it comes to playing music - and thus that it will sound better to not let the reciever be the one handeling your music to the speakers. - you mean this is all false?
I dont know a whole lot about this, but pick up all the tips I get from pages and the local HI-FI shops, and it would make sense if the speakers were not the only part that matter of how things sound.. as people likes different amps for different sets of speakers depending on how they sound together.
So far from looking at alternatives to the NAD (based on tips from various places that NAD might not be so 'fine' sounding) I have looked at alternatives - but it seem all is around 30-100 W per channel @ 8ohm 20-20k.. while the NAD is 150W.. I havent found anything above that - at least under the 2000 dollar price range. Where do you find those 300W amps? or do you use two amps in tandem?