Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Rec Spec Check

loads of number and an awful lot to digest.

But the other factor that i have yet to wrap my head around is the processor or pre-amp side of things. Let me explain what i mean by that.

you are buying an intergrated receiver in it combines both the pre-amp side that lets you select the source, control the volume and sends the sounds out the amplifier circuits inside the box. What everyone else has pointed out is the amplifier end of the equation that drives the speakers. How well they can drive the speakers and how much power realistically you are getting.

I have been in the music loving game for many years. I'm an old opinionated fart who cares more about the sound that I can hear rather than the theoretical math that backs it up. Experience has told me that all things being equal on paper doesn't translate to what you get and can actually hear. When you compare two different receivers to each other there are far too many variable things changing that you cant take at face value. I had a Nakamichi AV receiver that played wonderfully. The sound it produced was simply divine. Now on paper it had far worse specs that any of the more modern receivers that were built to work with modern equipment. The Nak didn't even have a digital decoder inside of it much less support of HDMI, so for a HT setup it was useless. So I bought other brands to try and replace what i liked and felt that they never quite sounded as good even though technically they had better specs.

I moved from relying on an integrated receiver to do everything for me. By pulling the amplifier out of the equation I removed just one more variable so i could decide what worked. I started with a Pioneer as they were relatively cheep and had the pre-outs I needed (some 8-10 years ago for a timeline). I was using at the time an Anthem MCA5 amp. it was a killer amp, but it never sounded all that good with the Pioneer plugged in. If I hooked up my speakers with the Nak using the tape outs to the MCA5 it sang. so i knew it was capable of giving the sound I needed.

I tried Sony, Merantz, Denon, Yamaha and each time I was not getting the same richness and sound that I wanted. Each sounded different from each other. But non sounded as good as what i had with the Nak. Eventually i bought an Anthem AVM60 pre-amp and just like that the sound i was wanting came through. A bit of a long winded story, but something to consider. if the pre-amp side of whatever you get just isn't outputting the signal in the manner and level needed, it doesn't matter the power and what dynamic range is available in the amp. CRAP IN - CRAP OUT!