Just a question for you all, what's the difference between an integrated amp and a receiver? is it just the lack of an AM/FM tuner? or something else as well?
In America, as opposed to the rest of the world, an integrated amplifier is considered a niche market product. As such, many integrateds have a slightly better build quality than a conventional receiver. Compare the weight of two comparably power units, one an integrated the other a receiver, and you will often see the integrated weighs slightly more. This is the benefit of a better power supply which is good for sound quality. Often a receiver will have more features (other than just a tuner) to make it easier to sell off the face plate where an integrated will be less button and knob oriented. Brands originating from a British, Italian or German design team will most often have their best product dollar for dollar in an integrated amplifier since that is the prevailing market in European audio. The American high end is now beginning to produce very good integrateds at upscale prices that are performance oriented and a far cry from the 40 watt Sansui integrated amp your father may have owned in 1975.
Intergrated amps have the ability to seperate the pre-amp section from the power amplifier section. I don't know if it has to be able to do this to fit the definition of an integrated amp though.
Many integrated amps do not have the ability to split pre and power sections of the amp. The point of an integrated amp is to integrate these two sections. Some amps have two separate sections with a link. Many don't.
A receiver is an amp with a built-in tuner. So a 2-channel amplifier with a built-in tuner is a receiver. However, a surround sound amplifier with a built-in tuner is also a receiver! Most surround amps have a built-in tuner so the term receiver is becoming a generic reference for a surround amp with a tuner built-in.
The correct definition, however, is that a receiver is an amplifier with a built-in tuner, irrespective of how many channels and other gizmos it has...