Should I add a stereo preamp?

Hi Danny:

What is the source that you are using and what specifically are you attempting to improve on? A few weeks back, there was a thread by a poster who had invested about $7k in amps & speakers, but was driving the whole rig with an inexpensive blu-ray player.

Rich

generally speaking a good standalone preamp will sound better than using your mainstream avr as a preamp. similarly (and perhaps to expand on rar1's point), you'll likely get better sound with good standalone dac than using the digital ins on your avr. if you'd post your whole setup, your budget and your objectives, you'd likely get some good advise as to where to go from here.

I had a similar experience, was driving my fronts with a Denon AVR, also used a sub. 2 channel was barely as good as my 15 year old Yamaha receiver, and the Denon is a $900 AVR, discounted. My first head unit was a 10 year old Yamaha CD changer, then upgraded to a Denon DCM 270, which was an improvement, but still the mids were thin. I added a Rotel 2-channel amp and things got better, but I finally bought the Parasound Halo pre and it was a big improvement. My head unit now is a laptop pushing lossless rips into a V-link, then to the PS Audio DLIII. I built a dedicated 2-channel rig tho, I don't run 2.1...another good pre amp with bass management is the Anthem TLP-1, that's what I was looking at.