Seperating 2 channel and HT in the same system.


I am trying to go from 50/50 music/ht to 70/30 music/ht. I want to use the internal DAC from my CD player instead of the DAC from the pre/pro.

Should I get a pre/pro with a true analog bypass or add a preamp for 2 channel listening? If the latter, how would you hook up a preamp so that the CD player signal does not get routed through the pre/pro and still be able to listen to HT through the same main speakers?

Doesn't a preamp have to go out to the amp? If I route the preamp to the pre/pro, the pre/pro will run it through it's own DAC again. The only way to cure this would be to constantly change the connections from the preamp to the pre/pro whenever I want to change from CD to HT.

Isn't there a better way to integrate a system?
joew
Why not get a preamp with a HT passthrough like the Audio Research LS 25, or any number of others. You hook the pre-pro through the pass-through input and the cd through it's own input. From there, it's a simple matter to switch to the cd input for listening to music. Switch to the HT passthrough when listening to HT. The signal from the preamp goes to the main amp and the main speakers. The beauty of using the passthrough is that relative volume is still controlled by the pre-pro when in passthrough mode, so you don't have to worry about the recalibrating volume. Worked well for me when I just had one combined system.
Joew,

Just turn your computer off. Don't ask questions, JUST DO IT!

If you are still reading and asking questions, do so at your own risk...
I was exactly in the same boat about 6 months ago asking the same questions. I also had the Studio 60's, PW2200, Studio CC, etc. for my HT. If I bought a new preamp for two channel only (bypassing the Denon 3802 receiver for better sound), how do I integrate? Can I buy one with HT bypass, and if not, what is this "set to unity gain" stuff I was being advised on? A long story short, I pretty much sold all of my home theater equipment (except for the TV and DVD player) and went two channel only as I found that although I started out at 50/50 HT/music, I went to 10/90 HT/music quickly. You can definately still have a HT but it will be based upon 2 speakers instead of 6 (including the subwoofer). Very easy to use now.
To answer your question, Sonic Frontiers preamps as well as others offer HT bypass (I have the SF Line 2 SE).
And finally to make you weep, after selling off most of the HT gear, I bought the Revel F-30 and they are indeed wonderful (I read you "system" link).

Best regards,
If your two channel pre does not have hometheater pass through you can still hook it up and it will still work fine. This was asked yesterday and I explained how to do it in that thread.