Hello,
I currently own an Arcam AVR-300 that, when working, sounds great to me coupled with my Monitor Audio RS-6's and RS-LCR's. The problem is that the AVR-300 rarely works and has been plagued with chronic motherboard issues that have been discussed at length. When I was originally looking, I hadn't found a single surround sound receiver that played 2-channel music in a satisfactory way other than the AVR-300, so I've been wrestling with how to proceed.
I am currently considering going for a nice two-channel integrated amp such as the A-85, and then getting something else for the home theater side of things. The main issue is that I want this all in the same room and only have one pair of front speakers. I know Russound and Niles make boxes that can allow you to connect two amps to one set of speakers, but then I read about potentially getting a home theater amp with pre-outs that I could run to the A-85. Is that possible? Would any of the sound quality of the A-85 be compromised that way? Would having the A-85 drive the fronts and something else drive the center and rears create an unbalanced soundstage? If I went this route, would I connect my CD player to the A-85 or the amp with pre-outs? Would I be better off getting just a 2-channel Arcam power amp?
A lot of questions I know, but I am just very partial to the Arcam sound for music and have been satisfied with a much wider range of products for movies. Any advice anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated. I would like to keep the ultimate solution around $1,500 and am willing to go used. If it made all the difference, the budget could be stretched to $2,000.
Thanks very much.
