Quote Originally Posted by RGA
Bryston is a pro amp maker -- I've heard Crown and IMO they're dreadful sounding amplifiers. Adding more power usually means adding more negative feedback which usually means worse sound. and almost no speaker needs more than 50 quality watts. The reason some seem to is that receivers have such bad power supplies that adding a 150 watt power amp can often sound much much better -- but then so would adding a GOOD 30watt power amp I'm willing.

And I can show anyone what my 10 watt amp can do with high efficiency deep bass speakers.

The crowns may improve the receiver mind you -- if it's music you want I would tend to avoid receivers completely because you're still stuck with the preamp section of the receiver. I have a well-reviewed Marantz receiver of 80 watts or so and it's really neat does lotsa stuff -- but compared to my integrated tube the marantz is unlistenable dreck to me. And this was arguably one of the better sounding ones.

My advice is to ignore me and others and try it out -- if you like it buy it and be happy. Many people go through many many audio upgrades over the years and I suppose for some they have to be there and do that before they can move on to something better.
Thanks. I'm trying to figure out which way to go- fancy pre + fancy amps versus AV receiver as pre + pro amps. The latter option being much cheaper. It would be nice if I could actually hear the two options side by side. Or least hear from someone who has done that. But such comparisons seem to be scarce. All of what you said seems tomake sense.

I do want to watch the occassional movie. So it's appealing to me to buy a cheap AV receiver. Then just add amps to the main speakers for 2 channel listening, even if it's a fancy amp. Then the receiver is essentially disposable- I can ditch it in a few years if the technology changes, but keep the amp. My impression from reading is that, say, a $400 Denon will sound no different than a $1,000 Denon when used as a pre.