I'm in a bit of a foul mood, so I thought I would let it out while I'm in the mood. Years ago, before the HT craze, I had a couple of stereo receivers, a HK and a Technics. I thought both were wonderful, but the Technics lasted longer. When the Technics was getting long in the tooth, I upgraded to a Pioneer surround receiver. Since I mostly listen to music, it's purpose was mainly for 2 channel stereo production. I noticed right away that something was missing. I never figured out exactly what was missing, I just knew I had lost something in the exchange. Later on, I jumped on the AVR bandwagon, spent hard earned money on a 5.1 speaker set up, got me a Yamaha AVR, then later, a Denon AVR, believing this would be the upgrade I was looking for. Well, it wasn't...it was OK for HT, but I found it profoundly lacking as a 2 channel stereo receiver. I have since given away the Denon and gone back to the previous Yamaha, which I consider the better of the two, even though it has less wattage, less little holes in the back, etc, etc. While the Yamaha sounds better to me, somehow I find myself yearning for my old Technics, with the silver face, of yore. This was a 40 watt/channel receiver that I drove 4 ohm speakers with. I'm really beginning to think that audiophiles and music lovers have been sold a bill of goods when it comes to the quality of modern day AVRs.
