On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 2:58 PM, Wade Preston Shearer
<[email protected]> wrote:
> 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.
Jason is right, pre-amps are for big-budget audiophiles who have a set
of monoblock amps that need a clean line-level signal. If you think
Harman Kardon stuff is expensive, you should take a look at Harman's
Mark Levinson brand, which carries audiophile mono amps. Like most
audiophile stuff, it's about getting a cleaner, more accurate sound.
As far as I'm concerned, separate amplifiers are way beyond the point
of diminishing returns for my listening. :)
--Levi
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