@millercarbon
Actually, I found a great way.
My power amp has both SE and Balanced inputs that are active at the same time. I run the front channel pre out from my AVR to the RCA jacks on the power amp, and I run balanced from my stereo preamp to the amp. When the stereo is active, the HT system is off, which results in no adverse affects to the 2 channel system. When the HT system is active, the 2 channel preamp is off.
Great stereo, surprisingly good 5.1.2 HT (this is not the main HT system). This works great without sacrificing any sound quality on the 2 channel system.
My experience after trying a whole slew of these things is there is no way to add a processor without your stereo taking a hit.
Actually, I found a great way.
My power amp has both SE and Balanced inputs that are active at the same time. I run the front channel pre out from my AVR to the RCA jacks on the power amp, and I run balanced from my stereo preamp to the amp. When the stereo is active, the HT system is off, which results in no adverse affects to the 2 channel system. When the HT system is active, the 2 channel preamp is off.
Great stereo, surprisingly good 5.1.2 HT (this is not the main HT system). This works great without sacrificing any sound quality on the 2 channel system.