Upgrade confusion Adcom, components, new receiver

 

RichB
I've got a 12 years old Denon AVr-2000 Prologic Receiver that has performed flawlessly over that time. However now I want to bring in new bells and whistles. I bought 3 years ago Polk RT800I's, CSI450, FX500i's and the Polk 650 sub. I've packaged it with a HDTV Directv system and DVD.

My question, should I replace the receiver with another one or use it as a Preamp for a nice power amp such as a Adcom GFA-7400? Possibilites for receivers include NAD's, Marantz's, Pioneer's in which case I don't go down the component path? I'm not looking to spend my children's college fund here. Best bang for the buck I guess.
 

Derek
I would vote for a new Receiver. A new receiver will have all the bells and whistles you are looking for. If you buy an amp, your system will simply be louder. A new receiver will likely be quieter than the pre-amp section of your old receiver as well.

The best bang for the buck today is held by the Onkyo 601 and the Denon 1604 and 1804. These three (all under $500) have a huge number of bells and whistles and very good audio performance. NAD and Rotel lean more towards fidelity but compromise some features. They cost a little more though.

Good luck and I hope this helps.
 

Hawk
RichB:

Derek is correct about a new receiver--you would be missing out on many new exciting formats. A lot has happened in the 12 years you have owned your Denon. Does your Denon have inputs for the amp section? If so, you could get a new pre-pro like the Outlaw Audio 950 (www.outlawaudio.com) for $798 and use your current Denon as the amp for a time or just get an Outlaw 7100 amp as well for a package price of $1598.

However, if you want to improve your sound while getting the new bells and whistles in a new receiver, I recommend at the $500 level the Outlaw Audio 1060 receiver ($499 from Outlaw) and the NAD 742 ($449 from Saturday Audio Exchange--www.saturdayaudio.com). They have much higher fidelity than anything else in that price range. Higher up, I am very impressed by the NAD 752 and the Marantz 7300. If you are willing to go even higher, the NAD 762 has been named product of the year by two publications (~$950) and the Rotel RSX 1055 (~$1300) is a beautiful receiver.

I have a Denon 3803 myself (~$1K), but I generally do not recommend it as the sound is definitely second rate behind the models I have recommended.
 

RichbB
Well thank you all. Incidentally part of my interest in new hardware was a irritating bum and tone from my receiver. I thought it had aged itself. However I found today that the problem was really my wall sockets generating the feedback. An extension cord, another socket and a ground loop isolater solved this problem and now things sounds good enough I must pause, regroup, save some more and give myself more options....oh right around Christmas.
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