totem/nad denon

You are pondering a huge mistake if you like music.  I'm with all the others and do not trade your NAD for a Denon AVR.  The preamp sections in AVR's, even in so called Pure Direct mode are a mere afterthought.  They are built for digital surround sound formats, not 2 channel stereo music like the NAD

I spent 10 plus years in an affair with the HT mistress, even using flagship AVR's and HT separates, always to be left unsatisfied with music.  Your Totems are fine speakers so keep them happy.  Keep the NAD.

I do not believe you can do this.  The Pre-outs on the back of your AVR are meant to go into the inputs of a power amp.  If you connect these to AUX inputs of your NAD  that are line level, you are sending the signal to the NAD's pre-amp and not power amp.   You would have to disconnect the jumpers on the back of the NAD to connect to power amp inputs, effectively losing the NAD's superior stereo preamp section.  So for music, you have not gained anything except a higher powered AVR.

This why some integrated amps have a feature called HT Bypass to allow seamless integration into an existing surround sound system all with the push of a button and one pair of interconnects.  This is the way my system is configured.