Integrated amps and stereophile ratings confusion?

Sorry, I can't help. I too find Stereophiles position of apples to oranges strange. Stereophile claims to be a source of help to audiophiles and yet they don't seem to appreciate the fact that an audiophiles budget regarding these components comes from the same money tree towards the same recipe.

I would agree...avoid receivers...get a quality intergrated...then add a Magnum tuner...better sound...for less money.....

I took home and auditioned the Magnum receiver over the summer and was disappointed with it's performance. I've owned the Magnum Etude tuner for a few years and I think it outperformed the receiver. In addition, I ended up purchasing the I-5 and am not disappointed at all with it's performance. I was a little surprised at the ratings in Stereophile as well.

couldn't you just add a nice, inexpensive tuner like a creek, or a rega radio, or a naim?

just a thought - or sell it all and buy a linn classic w/ tuner? excellent sound!

My used MD 208 sounded fairly thin out of the box. The Stereophile review points out that this unit requires a long break in period. Perhaps this should be interpreted as it having taken a long time for the reviewer to get used to the sound. (There's a thread here by Marakanetz that challenges the validity of break in for electronics, versus the listener just adapting to the sound over time.) Personally, I thought the change in sound was real over a relatively long break in period for my unit. Nevertheless, the MD 208 still sounds slightly thin driving Thiel 3.6s. Notably, my old Etude in another room seems quite warm, with a socko midbass. On the other hand, I haven't heard the I-5, but I would think it's possible that the same circuit design could sound different in a different chassis. I agree that ultimately separates are better, and I chose a receiver because of installation constraints for this system.