85/15 Music/movies, Best HT Processor for Music??

B&K any day of the week -- you can get their new 507 on the Gon for less than what you want to spend. Great products and a great company with knowledgeable people.
Good Luck

Anthem AVM20.

Good luck,

The Primare P30 pre/pro is very good. With my 2-channel system and in my home, I've A/B compared the P30 to 5 pre-amps including the Ayre k3-x, Placette Active Linestage, and the Pass Labs X2.5. These are all class A rated 2 channel pre-amps.

For my listening preferences, overall only the Pass Labs X2.5 barely edged out the P30 with it's slightly lower noise-floor. But the ergonomics of the P30 are far better than the X2.5.

The P30 is a real sleeper with a music first approach. No bells, no whistles, and the P30 has true 100% analog processing whilest in 2-channel by-pass mode.

-IMO

If you do listen to 85% music, you may want to consider a separate 2 channel pre-amp that has an analog pass-thru for your home theater front L/R channels. That is what I do and it works great for me ... Good Listening!

Umm, the 507 is a Receiver, and a good one at that.

As far as Processors, I auditioned many specifically for 2 channel. I preferred the Bryston SP1.7 over most by a wide margin. But I didnt hear them all and budgeting limitations kept me from a few.

The Classe SSP-75, Sunfire TG3, and the Krell HTS7.1, were some of my favorites as well. Considering, I was buying new, my budget was around 3.5k, I didnt need/want video switching, and true ananlog bypass was a must, the Bryston was my choice.

EAD and Anthem have a strong following as well.

All Around , The Integra Research , but 85% music / 15 % Movies , I would go Classe !