over 2 years ago i was where you were, i went out & bought all new speakers (klipsch reference) along with a denon 2805 receiver & 2910 universal all within several months, & also cables, etc. etc. however i was never completely happy with my system, so i started tinkering, getting demos of this & that, swapping components, etc. 2 years & alot of $$$ later, i am much happier with my system, but still incensed that i spent alot of $$$ in the beginning before i really knew what i was doing.
first, try & find a dealer who will let you demo components before you buy, or as a much less attractive alternative buy from someplace with a liberal return policy. the following is based on my experience of home demos over the past 2 years, & mixing & matching components in & out of my system. adding a power amplifier to a receiver can make an worthy improvement, it can also make little or no difference at all or in some cases actually sound worse. moving from a receiver to a dedicated pre-pro & a seperate amp made a much bigger difference than simply adding a power amp. i tried rotel, B&K, krell, cary & anthem, & purchased an anthem avm30. from a music quality standpoint, i would highly recommend a cary 6 which is no longer in production & would have to be purchased used or an anthem. the b&k i tried was only a stereo pre-amp, as was the rotel. the rotel pre-amp, amp & cd player did not play well with klipsch speakers, but i have heard same set up sound acceptable with other speakers. there are other pre-pros which could be used as well, as well as being purchased used if a budget requires it. also look around for trade ins & demos at dealers to save some $.
other significant improvements were using a cary dvd7 with xlr analog outputs or even better a cary 303/300 with xlr outputs. i have only demoed a 303 but intend on buying one unless i can find a universal player that does everything i want, which at this point i have all but given up on. this is not to say that similar improvements could not be had with other companies products, the rega apollo & saturn players both get stellar reviews for example. feeding any digital source into my avm 30 has never sounded as good as feeding an analog source & using the analog direct setup for music, & using the DVD7 xlr was a significant improvement over my current DVD6, & the 303 was an even more significant improvement over the DVD7.
if your going to feed a digital signal into your receiver/pre-pro, you can save some money on what cd or universal player you buy or use.
another option if it's only a music issue, would be to buy a stereo pre-amp with a cinema bypass, use it for 2 channel music with a seperate power amp & a receiver for movies to power all the other speakers. this is something i have yet to try but am starting to look into it, but have yet to actually demo a stereo pre-amp with my anthem avm30.
after over 2 years, my system is now: anthem avm30 pre-pro, cary dvd6, cary 500 mb monoblocks for front paradigm sig 8, krell ksa 2250 for paradigm sig adp surrounds. will soon replace the dvd6 with a dedicated cd player & seperate dvd player, or hopefully will find a universal that does it all in one box. also going to add 2 center channels & stereo amp to run them, or may move the krell out & get a multichannel amp for centers & surrounds. eventually will probably add a sub but it's last on the list.
after alot of demos, alot of shopping, each new component has made a marked improvement in the quality of both music reproduction & movies, but it has taken alot of work, & still alot to do. best way to avoid mistakes to to try at home before you buy if at all possible. if you can tell a difference & are happy with the price, great. if not, your not stuck with a component.
