I'm vaguely familiar with the benefits of separates vs the AVR so I'm thinking I should be jazzed about the amp (GFA-7705 rated at 200W/channel) as I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) this can be hooked up to my Yamaha for the extra oompf! I'll also be adding the old man's front Polk towers (RTI-10's) to the mix which would likely benefit from the amp. Thoughts? Ideas?
The Adcom amp will very likely be a benefit. If nothing else, you can use it to power all, or some, of your speakers. Your Yamaha does have preamp outputs for all the audio channels. When I switched from powering my front speakers by a modest sized Denon receiver to a larger amp, I noticed two things: 1) bass was more potent and cleaner, and 2) I could listen at louder levels while it sounded less distorted. It was louder without seeming to be under stress.
Whether the GTP-860II preamp/processor will also be better than your Yamaha is unclear. I did find the
owners manual for it online. Maybe you have already seen it. Whether it makes an audible difference compared to your Yamaha, or whether it is more "user friendly" to you is hard to say. All I can say is try it. You may only know those answers after using it for a few weeks.
If you use a PS3 to decode lossless audio, how do you send the audio to your Yamaha? By HDMI cable or RCA audio cables? The Adcom lacks any way to decode lossless audio, but it will handle decoded audio sent by RCA audio cables. It may be a bit more complex to hook up, but it is not likely to affect the sound.
As to the Polk speakers, try them out and compare them to what you have.
