Review: Arcam AVR 300 Surround Pre


Category: Preamps

After downsizing my speakers (Aerial) to a Quad L setup, my next step was to downsize from seperates (Krell) to a good receiver, I wasn't sure I could satisfied with a receiver, I started with a denon 3805 after reading some reveiws, it was a big mistake, the smooth sound that I enjoyed was gone, to me it was a solid state sound (slightly on the harsh side), I was going to back to seperates, but then I heard very good things about the Arcam AVR 300, So I sold the Denon and bought the Arcam, I am very glad I did, the smooth sound I enjoyed was back, very sweet vocals, the quads now sounded as good or better then the aerials at a fraction of the price, the Arcam does not have the bells and whistles of the Denon, but the Denon is not in the same league as the Arcam when it comes to sound and build quality, I have been at this hobby over 20 years, a product like the Arcam comes along rarely, the bottom line is that you don't have to spend big bucks to obtain the big buck sound !

Associated gear
Quad L speakers

Similar products
Denon 3805
128x128samski
I also tried/listened to many AV receivers. I settled on the Arcam AVR200. I went from McCormack DNA 125 and RLD-1 and the Arcam really holds it own at a fraction of the price.
AVR200 is a steal on the used market as everybody wants the more powerful AVR300...