I've found myself back in this same boat recently. My listening habits change all the time and right now, they're back at maybe 80/20 HT/records. Earlier this year, it was 90/10 records/HT. I used a Marantz AV7005 for several years and then decided to try an 'old' Krell HTS 7.1. It was perfect for what I needed. Balanced outs, 5.1 analog inputs (for my Oppo Bluray player) a zone 2 for my Tascam recorder, etc. I always ran video sources directly into the TV, so no need for HDMI inputs. Needless to say, I donated the Marantz within a week to my father. The Krell is substantially better on everything over the Marantz. I don't need an EQ because I have a pretty well treated room. The Marantz had sloppier bass, muddy highs and veiled/muffled midrange. Anyway, now that I'm into streaming movies/shows a lot more and cut the cord on cable, I am ready to move up to Atmos/dts;X. Otherwise I wouldn't bother upgrading. I found the best advice which has also been mentioned in this thread - buy a 2-channel preamp with HT bypass. My sights are on an Anthem AV60 and Rogue Audio Perseus for stereo (LPs and CDs) listening. The X-2.5 mentioned earlier looks very temping. I demo'd an XP-15 phono preamp and it was very impressive.