I belong to the group of the people that think that separates do make a difference, at least for music listening, not sure for HT. I myself switched from a Rotel receiver to Rotel separates, and experienced a noticable improvement of my 2 channel system sound, same speakers, same room. Opinions of other people may vary.

Axiom M60s, QS4s, VP100 Onkyo TX-SR804 Oppo 970HD Rotel RB-1080/RCD-1072 REL Q150E sub, PS 3