Great multichannel amps do not cut it in stereo


This is more of a comment than a question.

I have been dabbling in hifi for almost two decades, and in the past 8 years or so moved into what I call 'quality' audio - as far as my budget could muster. I listen to multichannel all the time for TV and movies, but love my 2 channel set up, supported by my dedicated 2 channel amp to run stereo duties.

Since 2009 I had been lusting after the Arcam AVR600 as a no-compromise one box solution for both multichannel and stereo. With the AVR600 model coming to the end of its life I managed to land a new one for a very reasonable price compared to its original rrp. Heavy? Yes. Impressive? Yes.
However, as a two channel amplifier it did not come close to my $1500 Burson Audio integrated stereo amp in terms of detail, soundstage, PRAT etc - in my opinion.
As many have said before, you can not expect one car to be both a utility and a sports car; and you can not expect a jack-of-all-trades also be a master in one area. And this became very evident to me in my comparison.

The Arcam AVR600 is definitely a nice piece of kit, albeit it has its technical gremlins. But it simply can not keep up with a high quality dedicated stereo system, if that is what floats your boat. I can not imagine multichannel separates being much better, as these had been extensively compared to the AVR600, with most indicating a close to on-par performance.

So really, my message is that for high quality multichannel and great stereo reproduction, look for a two box solution including a dedicated stereo amplifier. Spend less on the former, and more on the latter!
128x128marcinziemski
Yes, Michael, it IS indeed a receiver. In this case, his best Sonics -by far- are to use the preout mains for left/right channel of the AVR600, looped into a better 2 ch music preamp and dedicated 2Ch amp setup for 2ch music. This is basically as I suggested.
You can forget all the massively OVER HYPED ballyhoo of reviewing gloss-overs that the hifi rags wrote on these otherwise very nice sounding AV receivers which Arcam rolled out over last decade n a half! They were simply better sounding AV gear than most Chinese made AVRs, and without Room Equalization!!
Better 2 ch can be easily had, even from passive pre/direct approach, imo.
How about using the stereo music speakers and preamp and amp  as theater front channel when the music preamp's auxiliary is fed by the   "front channel output" of the AV receiver for video use and the preamp/amp/ speakers as the stereo music source when fed from the music components attached to it?
This statement is BS on its face. It depends entirely on the amplifier design itself. Any two channels of my 5 channel BAT 6200 will run rings around nearly every stereo amplifier for sale today. How you ask ? Each channel has its own independent power supply. In that sense, it's essentially 5 monoblocks in one big case.

Multi-channel amps that share a single power supply are more suspect, but then so are stereo amplifiers that share the same power supply, of which most do.
I OWNED A DENON AVR-3808CI SINCE 2007 AND IT WAS SUPERIOR IN EVERY WAY. COUPLED WITH MY OPPO BLU-RAY PLAYER THE STEREO WAS AMAZING WITH GREAT CLARITY, SUPERB SOUND STAGING AND VERY FINE DETAIL TO THE POINT OF EVEN HEARING THE MUSICIANS FOOT TAP KEEPING HIS TEMPO.
JUST PURCHASED THE DENON AVR-X6200 AND IT IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE AVR-3808CI.
FANTASTIC OVER FUNCTIONALITY.
DON’T THINK I NEED A 2 CHANNEL AMP.