If you are shopping for stereo pre/power amplifiers, you are searching for the pinnacle of sound performance. No other amplifier configurations match the pure experience of dedicated pre & power components.
Pre-Amplifiers are the signal handlers of the system. These components deal with the signal inputs from your source devices, as well as offering user controls (i.e. volume and input selection, video processing, etc.). The purest path from your source devices is through a pre-amplifier, which is handed off to the power amplifier. If you are ready to take the next step, pre-amplifiers and power amplifiers are the hi-fi you might reveal a whole new level of detail for your home listening experience.