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I currently have the Arcam AVR 200 and love it. I'm looking to upgrade to the AVR 300 but was wondering if there are any pre/proc amp combo's that match or exceed the AVR300 performance at the same $$$.
Thanks for your help.
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The Arcam cannot be touched under $10,000. Yes it is THAT good.
IMO, you'd have to spend much more and go separates to meet or exceed the performance of the AVR300, especially if you listen to any music through it. (As a high end 2 channel audiogal, most HT receivers fail on music rerpoduction for me.) This receiver is a killer for the price.You can get better, more powerful amplification with a separate multi-channel amplifier from a high end company...for around 2.5k on up.
I compared this receiver to the comparably priced, usual suspects from Denon, Onkyo, Rotel, Marantz et al. (In fact, I've owned two Denon receivers.) The AVR300 has a better pre/pro section than many separate pre/pros I heard.
In fact, you could easily keep the AVR300 as your processor long-term and add external amps if your speaker requirements ever grow to need more wattage than the Arcam can supply.
The AVR300 is better sounding - more spacious and open, more resolving and much more dynamic - than the AVR200 (which I think is a nice receiver in its own right). I'm not wild about the tuner, but I'm not wild about the tuners in any HT receivers. (I use a vintage Luxman.) No matter how loud I played the 300, it never got hard or congested on movies or music, something I cannot say of my Denons.
If you love your current Arcam, the AVR300 is a no brainer. Don't overthink this. No receiver I've heard at the same price comes close.
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