AVR850 or AV860 plus P7?

[kryten]

I've had AV8 and AV9 but I moved away from Arcam processors a few years back because they'd fallen behind on features and room correction, so ended up with the Yamaha CXA5000 processor.

One of the reasons was I realised I hardly listened to music any more - most of the use being TV, XBOX and films.

I'm now putting in a dedicated cinema room in our new place and again, I won't be using it for music but will be connecting a full 7.2.4 set of Sonance in wall/ceilng speakers and subs for Atmos

I'm just wondering what benefit of the AV860 has over the AVR850? 500 quid cheaper but no poweramps is quite a difference as I'm not likely to buy 11 channels of new Arcam poweramps for it

One thought is how does my Arcam P7 poweramp compare to the Class G ones inside the AVR850? Similar/better/worse? I could use the P7 (repaired a couple of months ago and now good as new) meaning the cost is pretty much the same as the AVR

I know the usual 'removing the poweramps gives a cleaner signal' explanation, but are there any clear audible differences for films/gaming that I'd notice having the AV860 and a P7 instead of the AVR850?

 

[sounddog]

Buy an AVR390 and it's even cheaper... use your P7 for the main channels and add 4 channels of power amp for atmos (unfortunately you can't use 7 external amps for the main and use the internal amps for atmos).

 

[kryten]

Valid point, are all the AVRs identical other than the amps built in?

I find it hard to believe that there are no other differences and that the 2k inc poweramps AVR390 is comparable to the 4k AV860, but you never know...