Enrique,
I currently have a 2805 receiver, & have been looking at going to seperates primarily for better sound quality on the music end, have been generally satisfied on the home theater end. Have demoed Rotel & Cary amps, and preprocessors as well, and waiting on demos from Parasound Halo, B&K & Krell. Adding an amp to a receiver can make a very noticeable difference, at all listening levels. However, the amount of improvement depends on what receiver & what amp. I'm not a techie, and do review spec sheets, but there is more to sound reproduction than simply looking at spec sheets. I trust what I hear, and more importantly, am not willing to spend my hard earned money adding components simply for show. I don't care what anyone else thinks of my system, I care about how it sounds to me. The Rotel 1080 is a nice amp, but the Cary Audio Cinema 5 produced a better sound quality to my ear. However, as important as the amp is the quality of components it's hooked to. The Rotel amp sounded good on my 2805, and was a noticeable improvement over the receiver powering the speakers, but not as good as when the Rotel was hooked to a Cary Cinema 6 processor, and best of all was the Cary pro/amp combo. I'm unwilling to comment on components I have never heard, but I would be wary of buying a component based on a spec sheet without trying it in your system first. Find a dealer who will let you demo an amp, and maybe a processor as well, and see if you can tell a difference. If you can't tell a difference, you just saved alot of money. Everyone who heard the rotel/denon combo & the cary/cary combo prefered the latter, from friends of mine who could care less about stereo equipment to my dad who is now looking at upgrading his own system. I'm not necessarily saying that Cary Audio is the solution for you, I'm just advocating that you shop with your ears & review spec sheets as well. I didn't compare all the specs on the Rotel v. the Cary, other than both were 200 a channel (when comparing I listened to the Cary only using 2 of the 5 channels), so there may be others specs which explain the vast difference in sound quality. Also it's important to keep in mind that the Cary is 4000 & Rotel's comparable 1095 (5x200) is only 2000. Adding an external amp, if properly done, will add body, broaden the soundstage, and increase the detail and clarity of the music. Done improperly, it will add nothing or perhaps decrease the sound quality. If you get the demo amp home, and find or don't find a noticeable difference, that will tell you what to do. Most of us are unwilling to pay for something that does not increase the sound quality of our system, regardless of whether we primarily listen (&watch) movies/tv or music. It's hard to know what to do until you demo components in your room, with your speakers, and hear how it sounds.
