How to get 2 Channel and Home theater in one packa

In my mind, the whole issue gets a little tricky when you factor in the sonic advantages of the new multi-channel formats (HD-DVD / Blu-ray) that are at our doorstep. I have an older integrated amp based system that I've used for 2 channel audio and HT. I decided it was time to upgrade and decided to create a completely new 2 channel system for audio and use my existing components for HT until the whole high-definition format battle finds a winner. (It seems to me like a real poor time to upgrade HT electronics due to the format war and also that you'll want HDMI 1.3 to take full advantage of the new formats). I tend to buy the best equipment I can afford and keep if for a long time. Also my use and passion is about 2/3 audio and 1/3 video.

So I've spent a lot of time on A'gon, reading the industry rags, and auditioning equipment. Now that I've figured out what I want for a 2 channel system and have started to get serious about looking for the various components on A'gon, I'm also getting a little "anxious" that the new uncompressed formats will offer such superior sonics that one of the new formats (likely Blu-ray)will leave me kicking my own arse that I put all that money into a separate 2 channel system instead of waiting to put together a killer "combo" system. This has gotten much more complicated that it needs to be. Audio neurosis.

Bdgregory,

My thought was based on the reviews of the 5800 series Denon, which were excellent. I too tried to replace my Proceed preamp/processor and amps with a Sony ES receiver, a 444; openess and transparency were sacrificied, so I switched back to the separates. But I suspect the Denon 5800 serieis is different. It's true, if you have enough things hooked up, a rat's nest seems inevitable. By cluge, I was referring to schemes in which 2 channel preamps are used with multi-channel equipment where level control is an issue.

Although I'm not practicing what I preach, I continue to suspect that a 5800 series Denon would be fine for all but the highest-end applications, and that many of the neigh-sayers have not heard that series in such an application.

db

Eandylee: I agree with your comments about matching speakers. I was fortunate in that my rears used to be my fronts, until I replaced them with much better speakers from the same company.
I have had no incompatibilities with my amps at all (Sunfire 5-channel, 400w into 8 ohms; McCormack DNA-500, 500w into 8 ohms). I think as long as the power is in the same neighborhood, if you like the sound of both amps, they will probably sound OK together for movies, etc. My system sounds seamless for movies. I think speaker synergy is more important, especially between the center speaker and 2 front speakers. More and more speaker companies are coming out with center channel speakers as they also see this crossover market booming.

Kal,
Do you ever feel that running built-in decoder in DVD player into analog preamp (that's exactly what I'm doing with McIntosh C-45), is inferior to using dedicated processor into preamp?