Cheap receiver + amp vs Expensive receiver

DTC,

If I don't want to use the tube amps for HT, then unfortunately swapping speaker cables is the only option for now unless I buy another pair of monitors just for HT. Wife wouldn't want to see 6 speakers in front of us.

Hi, thanks to you all.

Actually most of my budget was spent, and will be spent in the future, on the 2 channels system. HT is an after thought. (i.e. I won't spent the $ on a Krell or a brand new Anthem etc, I'll spent the $ on the 2 channels sys instead)

However, HT is something my whole family enjoys. Currently, I have a Harmon Kardon HK635, which is a pre-HDMI era receiver (it's resell value is like dirt right now). After the HK635, I learned that the digital front end is so easily and quickly becoming obsolete.

I do believe good amps are always worth the $.

So I was thinking, asumming my budget is less than $2000, if I get a good ~$1000-$1200 used power amp, and mate it with a $500-600 current receiver (e.g. Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer), I'll have a good analog amp and the most recent decoding front end. (I know the analog preamp sucks but it's all about picking the lesser evil).

Another option is to have the pre-out from the receiver as an input to my 2 channels setup using HT bypass. But I dislike the idea of buring 11 tubes for watching TV and movies.

Cheers,

K

It looks like a 2nd hand Onkyo Integra pre/pro + 2nd hand 5 channels amp will be much better a brand new $2000 receiver!