Reciver/Integrated same sound?

In my experience, I know of only a handful of receivers over a 40-year period that were designed and built to audiophile standards. The only ones that come to mind are Tandberg (who shielded and isolated each section from the others), ADS, and McIntosh. But I can name a lot of integrateds that make serious sound and rival separates. Not only are there pricey ones from Krell, Pass, Pathos, Bryston, and the like, there are excellent affordable ones from Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Cambridge, Creek, Rega, Music Hall, Musical Fidelity, Rogue, Primaluna, all of which will trounce any receiver i can think of,

So in a sense, it doesn't matter whether you *could* get equivalent sound in a receiver, the historical reality is that almost no manufacturer tries to do so.

01-13-12: Kbarkamian
... If you want great sound for the dollar, integrateds are the way to go IMO. Add an inexpensive tuner, and you're far better off sonically. Just my experience.

+1. There are so many good integrateds out there at every price point, both new and used, SS and tube.

For a tuner, find something used from the '80s, the last time FM was a source of quality sound. I have two tuners, an ADS T2 and a Denon TU-530, each of which I picked up used for $80. The T2 was legendary in its time for pulling in stations and noise rejection, the Denon has a luxurious, silky feel (and pulls in stations very well too), and both have fundamentally excellent sound quality.