I love separate systems . My main system is a fully separate , 7 . 2 theater setup with a Marantz receiver as a prepro . The only speakers I own that actually benefit from the dedicated amps are my mains and my subs . If you are interested in getting the best bangforbuck with your equipment , get just the receiver . I can almost guarantee you ' ll never hear a difference in a blind test . The SVS speakers are not known for being power hungry anyway . Now , if you ' re like me and simply want to be able to say , I ' ve got separates , then go for it . Personally , unless I got a real bargain on a prepro , I will always use a receiver with preouts and won ' t ever go back to regular preamp again , though . I ' m in the exact same situation and agree with every word you wrote . Happy to have my external amp but realistic about its impact . My receiver does run a bit cooler now though .