I would highly recommend either the Cary SLP2002, which is a tubed preamp with HT bypass or to use a BAT unit such as the VK300X integrated, or one of their preamps that can set unity gain. I currently use the VK50SE and set one input to have a fixed volume. I run the two front outputs from the HT preamp into this input. This allows me to use the volume of the HT preamp for movies, then I just change to the CD player input on the BAT and I can listen to high end 2 channel playback. I love this setup as I can often be listening to a cd while watching tv.
Amp switcher for 2chnl to HT?
OK, here's the idea: I want to get the best of both worlds and have a 2 channel system in the same space as an HT setup. I am getting B&W N803's as new fronts for my HT. Clearly they deserve/demand great amplification. My HT rcvr is good enough for HT, but not great for 2 chnl. So I could run another great 2 channel amp from the pre-outs, but what if I want to use a great integrated, then what? And what if I want to really go crazy and add a great CDP to the equation? So I started thinking that maybe I could use an amp switcher (if something like this exists) and I could run a parallel 2 chnl system. Is this doable? Does this make sense?