If you like your McIntosh equipment then maybe that is the way to go. They make a very highly regarded pre/pro, but it ain't cheap. Either way finding a HT pre/pro that will perform in stereo, at the level a dedicated two channel pre will, is very difficult maybe even impossible. A couple of other candidates may be the new Sim Audio Moon processor which will internally decode all of the newest hi rez audio codecs available from the Bluray format. It is either just now becoming available or will be very shortly. Also Levinson has a new processeor being released soon that will also decode Dolby True HD, and DTS HD Master Audio internally but the price, OUCH! Along with the Integra unit these are the only high end pre/pros that currently decode the high end surround formats that I know of. Truthfully, if the concern is strictly audio then having a pre/pro that decodes the hi-rez codecs internally is not neccessary, as many of the new Bluray players will decode them internally and route them to the RCA multi-channel outputs on the back of the player, which you then in turn connect to the multi-channel analogue pass-through inputs on your pre/pro. This opens up the available choices significantly.
As far as mutichannel amplifiers go some suggestions would be an older EAD 8300, or the Moon Titan, or possibly the Theta Dreadnaught,or again McIntosh.
As far as mutichannel amplifiers go some suggestions would be an older EAD 8300, or the Moon Titan, or possibly the Theta Dreadnaught,or again McIntosh.