Bi-amping for HT

all HT receivers I'm familiar with have pre-outs and will work the way you are asking. The key is this - you want to feed the main outs from your receiver through your your SP-12 preamp in what is called "bypass" mode, and have your main speakers/D-90 amp connected to your SP12 pre-outs.

This setup allows you to use the same main speakers for 2 channel music, and alternately for HT with a simple change of switches. It's not likely to make your HT Fronts sound a lot better (due to the Receiver preamp limitation), but can't hurt it, and greatly simplifies the speaker setup for you.

I doubt your SP12 has true bypass, and if this is true you set up the receiver to feed main outs into a free input on the SP12 (eg tape in). You then set your SP12 volume at a set point that can easily be remembered (eg 12 o'clock), which is where you set it any time you use your HT. Calibrate your HT speakers with the SP12 at this level. You will need to have your SP-12 powered on whenever watching HT. When you want to listen to 2 channel music, simply leave your HT receiver off and run your source through the SP12 as usual.

You can search the archives on "HT Bypass" and find a lot more discussion on this. This is not biamping - which isn't what you're asking about.

As for HT receivers - you should state your budget range if you want some good recommendations. I have a Sherwood Newcastle which was cheap and is stunningly good given what it cost me (~$150 used/mint), though it has some shortcomings.

well, in HT Mode, it will indeed be fully remote controllable. But when in 2 channel music mode, it's the same as you have today.

as Meiwan and I indicated, using the HT Pre for 2 channel music will be a bad idea. I've tried multiple high end HT Pre-Pros and even they don't compare to a good 2 channel preamp when listening to music. An option is to sell your SP12 and by a good remote controllable 2 channel preamp. That's what I did.

If I get a new Pre w/remote that still won't allow for 4 channels, correct?

Wrong - you need to focus on what's going on in the scheme I described. for music - it's 2 channel, for HT it's 5.1, or 7.1, or whatever you configure. Furthermore, in HT Mode - all channels are controlled by the Receiver remote. It's only in 2 channel music mode that you don't have remote control. You can remedy this by getting a new preamp that has remote.

that's right. Think of the preamp as simply being a passive connector between your HT receiver and your power amp when you're using it for HT. This way the volume control is fixed on the SP12, and the volume for all HT channels are controlled by the remote for the receiver.

If you do decide to buy a new 2 channel preamp - you may want to consider getting one that has HT bypass built in. It's better and more convenient, but not essential.

let me get this straight Byfo . . . you want him to buy a $900 switch so he can connect his $300 receiver and his $470 preamp to one amp, when both of them already have the capability to do this without an external switch?

you got it, except unless you have a subwoofer connect to the SP12, it will be 2.0