Well the Pre-pros from Yamaha, Marantz, Denon, Integra, Onkyo, Anthem have the same features (including bass management) as their AVR counterparts.
The salient difference is that the pre-pros don’t have the internal amps like the AVRs. But besides that, they are practically the same.
So for example, going from a Yamaha CX-A5100 + MX-A5000 to a single Yamaha RX-A3080 is going to sound exactly the same to me.
The famous question has always been, if they sound the same, then why use separates?
My answer?
1. Separates theoretically are supposed to last a lot longe because they are higher quality. So far, I am 0 for 1 since my AVP-A1HD died after about 8 years. Let’s see how long the CX-A5100 lasts.
2. Pride of ownership. As long separates last longer, I can say they are “higher quality “. But if they don’t last longer, I can say separates are not higher quality and pride of ownership goes out the window. Then I will just stick to a single flagship AVR since it will power all my 9 speakers absolutely great.
To me, with a few exceptions, only the subwoofers truly require separate amps, not most speakers. And I don’t buy, “but my speakers dip down to 3 ohms”.
I’ve used a $400 50WPC 5.1 AVR to power 5 speakers (4 towers + center) that all ”dip down to 3 ohms”. So just because they dip down to 3 ohms somewhere in the 20-200Hz region doesn’t mean that much to me.
All this talk of power is mostly audiophile talk to me. Pride of ownership is huge and important. Everyone is going to think they are correct and can find some arguments to justify their theories. People’s thinking may change over time based on experiences.
I definitely don’t get people spending $3K on amps for their $2K/pair speakers. Probably another pride of ownership reason.
Just use common sense. Don’t listen too loudly. Always start at lower volume and gradually increase. If your electronics overheat, find ways to cool them (buy different electronics that stay cooler, use fans, A/C, etc.).
