ARCAM AVR10 or ROTEL RB 1552 MKII + RC 1572?


My beloved Marantz SR 5007 recently went into protect mode, permanently. Subsequently, I’ve been online, for a few weeks now, trying to configure a new path forward. So far, I’ve boiled it down to the aforementioned, with HDMI vs Optical in mind. The unit(s) will be used in my living room with a 2018 65” SONY OLED, that (only) has ARC HDMI. I primarily stream video, via a ROKU 4K player. I primarily stream music via Spotify Connect from my iPhone. I don’t want another Marantz. I’m also not really interested in Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, etc. either. My latest thought is to give up on HDMI from TV to AVR for awhile and go with Optical out from TV to pre-amp + amp. Especially considering the fact that my speaker configuration has been and will probably always be 2.1 (PSB 8” sub + Infinity IL 10’s or PeachTree D4’s). I listen to music much more than I watch TV. However, I ran my Marantz regardless, TV, movies and music. Lastly, my house is only 1400 sqft. So my living room/kitchen space really isn’t that big. Vaulted ceiling L/R. Medium sized listening space. My budget is 3K, tops. Please advise.
solsticemuzix
My Primare pre-pro and Esoteric DV 60 both went TU at about the same time. There weren't enough funds to buy new, so I found an Arcam DV 139 universal player, and an Arcam AV 9 pre-pro. Other than the weird way the British arrange operating the units, the sound is the best I've had for multi-channel music. Don't do much home theater, other than TV, but I'm very happy with my choices, and the two of them cost me $1400 in total.

They are far from new, but they sure sound nice.
Regards,
Dan
I also bought a T778 about a month ago.  Once I figured out the whole BluOS system, I decided this weekend to buy a Bluesound Vault 2i to rip all of my 1,000+ CDs and control playback through BluOS.

Ripping takes 8 minutes per each CD, so I've only done about 100 so far.  But the HD Tracks I downloaded years ago can be transferred to the Vault over the network, so I am finally getting the true High Rez playback that my Mac Mini could not do through USB.

Anyway, with Dirac the sound is great for both 2 ch. and home theater.