125 watt or 80 watt?

There is a nice looking ATI 1505 up for sale right now for not much more money. Definitely worth looking into for a good deal on a nice 5 channel amp.

I have no affiliation with the seller whatsoever.

Im sure you dont... but i was wondering why an amp preamp would not be better than the onkyo?

I think at your pricepoint you may end up with a bunch of antiquated junk if you are not careful. The only way to get the latest features at that price is an AVR.

I had a Onkyo 805 for a while and it is a nice AVR with all of the most current features - bitstream D/A conversion of CD/SACD, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master Audio, etc. and Audyssey room correction. It is also very powerful and has a very good power supply (it weighs over 50 lbs!). Just pair it up with a Oppo 980H universal player ($150 on Amazon.com) and you are good to go.

Since the 806 just came out, you should be able to find a 805 cheap ($400-$500) if you are patient. This unit does run hot so you will need fans - I used dual fans that I bought on ebay - they plug directly into the AC outlet on the back of the AVR. Very nice. You will be pleased.

i totally understand where you are coming from, but what is wrong with having a new pioneer with the carver supplying the power, it has all the same features with updated hd audio, and the carver would supply good power, am i missing something in this whole thing? Wouldnt an amp be better sounding than an avr receiver, and i can still get the hd audio with the pioneer? Would this happen to be your ad on ebay?

well i did some researching on the onkyo it sounds like everything i was wanting. But, i still would like to know if it would sound better than a seperate amp like the carver.