Step up from $2000 rec. to dedicated pre-pro?

Looks like a new round of upgrades are due as my aging McCormack pre-amp bit the dust. I was just wondering whether there would be a big improvement in getting a dedicated pre-proc in the < $2000 range vs. using a receiver (for purely pre-pro duties) in the same range. I'm consolidating my two systems, one of which was supposed to stay 2 chan, and one grow into a multi-channel setup, but I'd rather just have one quality system.

For receivers in this range I was thinking Pioneer Elite, Marantz, B&K , or for pre-processors Rotel, Adcom (or maybe Outlaw.) If people have suggestion for either receivers or pre-pros in this range, I'd love to hear them.

The Pioneer Elite especially has very nice features, including component upsampling (used with Front Projector), every digital format under the sun, very flexible setup for room correction and bass management, and 'i.Link' for jitter free single cable digital connection to DVD/CD/DVD-Audio/SACD, but on the other hand, I'm worried about 'mid-fi' sound when it comes to music.
I currently have 4 channels of PS Audio amplification (2x HCA-2), and would probably use my old Classe for the rear channels if I went with a pre-pro - with a receiver I could use the built in amp for rears or use the 3rd power amp.
I really dont want poor sounding 2 channel music, as I still listen to music more and find music more demeanding on components than HT, so I'm not sure how I can get a system thats decent at home theater but still good for music. I know some pre-amps support HT bypass, so I could go that route too, but things quickly add up, so I'm wondering what the most efficient option here would be.
I have a pair of Dynaudio Contour MK IIs, and a pair of GMA Europas, I'm still considering which one I'm going to sell to complete the speaker package (I'd like to have 5 or 6 identical speakers), but that's another story.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!