FWIW, the amplifier sections in those D+M AVRs easily outperform the Rotel 1095 in terms of THD+N...Of course the receivers have full pre-outs, so if you prefer the lower performance of the 1095, you are welcome to continue using it.
Not a knock against Rotel gear, BTW, I love the stuff, but I am clear-eyed about how it measures.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and perspective. I too am clear-eyed about what I want to accomplish. That is to stay with separates as I believe that offers me the best experience.
Now at the risk of turning this into a holy war, I want to first acknowledge my current Rotel amps are approaching 20 years of age which is why I will replace them at some point versus recapping them. That aside, I would expect there to be improvements in amps since I made the purchase in 2006.
That aside, the THD metrics for the RMB 1095 both from the manufacturer (Rotel) and by independent reviewers (including Audioholics), give these amps glowing reviews. Back in their day, they were hard to beat at their price point. At quick glance from Marantz's website, the THD metrics are not too far off from the Rotel. The Rotel is listed at .03% and the SR8015 is listed at .05%.
When you get past this and move on to the delivery of good clean power, the Rotel's do not compromise on delivering 200WPC with all channels driven. The SR8015 delivers 140WPC which I would submit likely dips significantly when more channels are driven. Is it audible? Maybe, maybe not.
All that to say, I recognize some will prefer to go the integrated AVR route. That is fine for them. There's nothing wrong with that approach. In fact, I did so years prior before I went the separate route. I simply have no interest in going back to an integrated setup and will continue to keep my processing and amplification separate. That being said, I did challenge my assumptions on this. My thinking was confirmed by auditioning an integrated Marantz AVR when my Rotel processor died. I first used it as an integrated processor/ amp and it sounded great. Then I configured it with external amplification (one of my Rotels). I found this way improved the sound quality, depth and overall warmth of the sound. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to my ears, it sounded better this way and that is all that mattered to me.
Last point, I also do not use RCA interconnects but rather XLR. Again, likely another holy war discussion, but I find I get better performance from XLR, especially for longer runs than I do from RCA, plus the feedback, hums, I heard at my old house were less pronounced using XLR's.
