Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Preamp versus Receiver

Currently I own a Harmankardon AV-320 receiver and I don't feel its built-in amp serves my M60 speakers nicely. So I'm looking at purchasing an high-end amplifier to drive them. But I'm confused by speaking to several people. I mainly want to use the amp to listen to music on the M60. Some people recommend connect a separetae CD/DVD player directly into the amp, by-passing the receiver. They say if I use the pre-outs on the receiver, it will beat the purpose of getting an expensive amp. Is it true? I usually hear preamp always go with amp. What's the the different between preamp and receiver? What's the best way for me to connect the new amplifier?

A reciever is made up of a preamp, processor, amp, and tuner. The tuner obviously gives you a radio source, the preamp lets you switch between sources, the processor deals with effects/decoding/equalizing, and the amp of course makes it loud.

If you use the preouts on your HK you should only be bypassing the built in amp but still getting all the other functionality from it. If you are basically trying to get more volume, that should be an effective way to do it. It will also mean that anything else you decide to listen to will benefit from the additional power if you crank it up.