Here's a question for the audiophiles on the list. I'm in the market for a new receiver. I'm pretty sure I'm going to replace my Harman Kardon with another Harman Kardon (unless someone can talk me out of it). I'm especially motivated because they just slashed prices to move out their inventory in preparation for the launch of the 2011 models. I can't decide between the AVR 2600 and the AVR 3600 though. The only difference is that the 3600 includes an iPhone dock, full multi-room support, more watts to each channel, and 7.1 preamp. I don't care about the first two items but the later to are important. The 2600 is now $500 (normally $800) and the 3600 is now $750 (normally $1,200). It seems like an extra $250 is worth it for the extra watts and the premap (especially for a receive that is normally twelve hundred bucks), although I'm still having a hard time understanding the preamp exactly. The 2600 only has preamp for the subwoofer whereas the 3600 has it for all speakers (7.1). I understand the basic idea behind an amplifier, but what exactly does it do here in a home stereo/theater scenario? More power to the speakers… but what does that mean? Just that I turn things up louder? Cleaner sound? I'm pretty sure that my current receive (AVR 635) only has the preamp for the subwoofer.
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