Looking for Pre/Pro with great 2 ch sound

A little more background on this question: I have Linn Ninka speakers and I'm considering going to Linn amplifiers (Linn 5125 multichannel amp) to actively power the speakers. On other threads everyone says to pair Linn amps and speakers with Linn preamps. The problem is the Linn multichannel controllers are either really expensive or out of date (like the 5103).

Would the Theta or Proceed pair well with Linn amps? The other option is to use a pre-pro for multichannel listening and a Linn preamp for two channel with pass through for multichannel. This just seems needlessly complex. Any further thoughts?

A Meridian 568 or 568.2 would be an excellent used processor to get.

Good Luck

I currently own Linn Unidisk SC. I have previously owned Meridian G68 and Proceed AVP2+6. They are all very musical. You should be able to put together musically satisfying system with any of these.

I like Unidisk simply because of its superb SACD performance. When playing SACD the background noise is so low you can hear and feel the recorded ambiance on many of the recordings. The redbook CD performance is also pretty good. Meridian was probably a touch more smooth and airy in redbook CD and DVD Audio, but the difference was small enough. Proceed sounds fuller and more authoritative compared to both Meridian and Linn. Proceed, while it was a very good processor, was tad dark sounding, and ultimately I preferred more lively and airy sound of Meridian and Linn.

Cary cinema 11 should fit the bill. Balanced in and outs and rave reviews but it is audio only.