Onkyo 805 as pre amp

[griffinconst]

I know the amp in this unit is killer but if I wanted to add an external amp, is the pre amp section considered good? Is it quiet?

 

[jostenmeat]

I use it as pre/pro, and it works great for me. The biggest boon IMO is the XT. Better than I even expected. If it didn't require so much work (well, to me at least), I would try it in my 2ch rig to do a head to head against my Cambridge top-of-line integrated. It wouldn't surprise me whatsoever that the Onkyo sounded better simply due to the EQ.

 

[Seth=L]

Considering the choice of parts used in the Onkyo I would certainly think they would want to noise floor to be super low in co-relation to the quality of the unit. Of the Onkyos I've used in the past their preamp sections have been just as any other receiver. I've only had a bad experience with preouts on an Insignia brand receiver, but honestly they shouldn't have put them on there at all.