best bang for buck receiver strictly for pre/dsp/mulitple output use?

[N. Abstentia]

1100 bux is far too high though....the thing is to be as budget oriented as possible...I THINK I might have the high quality seperate power amps for low $$ covered with these...
http://www.behringer.com/A500/index.cfm?lang=ENG...so I need low $$ options for the preamp/dsp....

Why would you buy 3 of those el cheapos at $229 each instead of one nice 5 channel at around $500?

[guitz]

because , as we discover more and more frequently with time, price is mattering less and less in terms of quality.....those Behringer amps get very positive remarks from the pro audio recording crowd, but granted, that's not the same context I want to use them in, ala HT amps,etc....

[N. Abstentia]

I'd still rather have a nice 5 channel amp over 3 el cheapo amps any day. Behringer amps are very noisy have have rather high levels of distortion. Plus they are not designed for HT use....not to mention the fact they are bottom of the line entry level amps.

[edtyct]

In pro audio circles, Behringer's "strength" is mainly the affordability of its products, though some people also have made favorable comments about sound quality--in the proper context, anyway. But pro audio is made to hold up in difficult, unpredictable, live situations, not to flatter the kind of finesse that listening even in modest HT installations requires. Nonetheless, Behringer has a spotty reputation for reliability. It seems to have improved, but the long-standing perception dies hard.

This is a bit of an aside, but many musicians have never forgiven Behringer for its many patent infringements, some of them apparently still in legal limbo. A few people even blame Behringer for Mackie's financial problems. You have to ask why Behringer's prices are always so low. I don't believe that it's altruism.