Hi Curtis;
I had my Dad's NAD 752, my Rotel RSX 1065 and my brothers HK AVR225 hooked up to my Marantz CD63 Special Edition CD player hooked up to my old Monitor Audio Silver S6 in the same room. At sound levels equal I could not tell the difference. All were damn bright. Silver S6 is bright, forward and has a floppy bass. I had the same Rotel above and the Onkyo Integra DTR 5.1 hooked up to a old crappy Toshiba DVD player into my old B&W 302 in the same room above. Couldn't tell the difference. Both were muddy and full in the bass. Due to the speakers of course.
I have now the same Marantz CD63SE hooked into PMC DB1 and tried with the Rotel RSX1065 and it sounded good. I hooked up my Bryston 4B to the preouts of the Rotel and into the PMC and the sound definitely opened up. I had a better sound stage and more resolution. I had my dad, my fiancee and friends come over during the last couple of weeks and ask if they could tell a difference. All of them said they did. I never mentioned about the Bryston. They don't know about stuff like this minus my dad. The sound when powered by the Bryston gave me the same dynamics and soundstage as I heard in the shop when the speakers were paired with a Krell KSA Integrated. Unfortunately I do not do scientific measurements.
This opinion is solely my personal view and all can take it with a grain of salt. I was a firm believer before that amps didnt matter. I was right in certain aspect but kinda wrong in certain ways too. I went out and tried it and all in the same room...my living room.
If you are using Denons, Yammys, Rotels, HK, Pioneers most will be hard pressed to find a difference in 2 stereo mode. The Pioneer is kinda funky in that surround stuff. It does a fantastic job with that MCCACC
The moment you go with Krells, Brystons, Conrad Johnson, Classe, Mark Levinson (all of which I have heard) ... amps that are considered Class A and pushing 150, 250, 350+ watts ... it is not necessarily better but there is a change in sound quality. When does that law of diminishing returns start kicking in for those individuals who pay 2K 3K 5K 10k for that added depth of stage and resolution over the sub 1.5k reciever/separates.
