Same price range, I think pre+power almost always win.
The reason is too many components in the AVR result in a compromise in design and easily gives rise to interferences among various components in the system.
It sounds
Khun game try to decide which way to go for music listening and hometheater.
If your budget allows, please separate the music and home theater for best result. I don't think pushing your HT system to the max for better audio quality worth the money,
