Interesting comments. It really is a dilemma. I'll give my solution which works for me and my ears. First a little about my cave, 15 x 23 x8 with room treatment. HT gear is 5.1 Lexicon MC12B, Emotiva amp (my Krell died) B&W 803D2, Oppo 103, Hitachi 65. It never did 2Ch stereo justice although it was still very nice. Then I went to a 2 system setup in same room, Rogue integerated, VPI Prime Polk SrsSda 3.1TL. Also very nice, actually better than very nice. Then noticed everything being a bit congested. So I started to think about decongesting by finding a way to open things up. I build my own switching unit which allowed me to use both systems with one set of speakers thus eliminating the Polks out of the room. I'm of the opinion that 2Ch will beat HT in most cases. I learned this by playing the same source thru both systems simultaneously via switching between them a almost immediate comparison. I think I've hit the jackpot, at least in my view. FWIW I have yet to hear a better soundstage than what them old vintage Polks could produce and I've heard a lot of great setups in my days. Polks were really on to something before they went mass market.
Great multichannel amps do not cut it in stereo
This is more of a comment than a question.
I have been dabbling in hifi for almost two decades, and in the past 8 years or so moved into what I call 'quality' audio - as far as my budget could muster. I listen to multichannel all the time for TV and movies, but love my 2 channel set up, supported by my dedicated 2 channel amp to run stereo duties.
Since 2009 I had been lusting after the Arcam AVR600 as a no-compromise one box solution for both multichannel and stereo. With the AVR600 model coming to the end of its life I managed to land a new one for a very reasonable price compared to its original rrp. Heavy? Yes. Impressive? Yes.
However, as a two channel amplifier it did not come close to my $1500 Burson Audio integrated stereo amp in terms of detail, soundstage, PRAT etc - in my opinion.
As many have said before, you can not expect one car to be both a utility and a sports car; and you can not expect a jack-of-all-trades also be a master in one area. And this became very evident to me in my comparison.
The Arcam AVR600 is definitely a nice piece of kit, albeit it has its technical gremlins. But it simply can not keep up with a high quality dedicated stereo system, if that is what floats your boat. I can not imagine multichannel separates being much better, as these had been extensively compared to the AVR600, with most indicating a close to on-par performance.
So really, my message is that for high quality multichannel and great stereo reproduction, look for a two box solution including a dedicated stereo amplifier. Spend less on the former, and more on the latter!
I have been dabbling in hifi for almost two decades, and in the past 8 years or so moved into what I call 'quality' audio - as far as my budget could muster. I listen to multichannel all the time for TV and movies, but love my 2 channel set up, supported by my dedicated 2 channel amp to run stereo duties.
Since 2009 I had been lusting after the Arcam AVR600 as a no-compromise one box solution for both multichannel and stereo. With the AVR600 model coming to the end of its life I managed to land a new one for a very reasonable price compared to its original rrp. Heavy? Yes. Impressive? Yes.
However, as a two channel amplifier it did not come close to my $1500 Burson Audio integrated stereo amp in terms of detail, soundstage, PRAT etc - in my opinion.
As many have said before, you can not expect one car to be both a utility and a sports car; and you can not expect a jack-of-all-trades also be a master in one area. And this became very evident to me in my comparison.
The Arcam AVR600 is definitely a nice piece of kit, albeit it has its technical gremlins. But it simply can not keep up with a high quality dedicated stereo system, if that is what floats your boat. I can not imagine multichannel separates being much better, as these had been extensively compared to the AVR600, with most indicating a close to on-par performance.
So really, my message is that for high quality multichannel and great stereo reproduction, look for a two box solution including a dedicated stereo amplifier. Spend less on the former, and more on the latter!