Hello,
This is a very big problem with home theater audiofiles. Most of these ideas are correct especially the preamp/ or integrated amp with a home theater bypass. This lets you have the best of both worlds plus you get to use your existing speakers with your two channel and home theater like I do. Your main problem is your budget because you need a more modern integrated or preamp/ amp combo that has this feature so you do not mess up the components you have. You can mess up your AVR and speakers just plugging your AVR into a two channel system if it is not done properly. The setup I have is the Emotiva 2channel preamp $750 used with your choice of amp. You can use the DAC in your AVR for now but upgrade to a stand alone DAC later. Do not use their amps for music unless you like a sterile sound. Very good for home theater with DSP. You can get a nice amp for $200-$250. You see the dilemma. You are about $250 to $350 short with interconnects. My opinion. Save up some more. Get the Emotiva differential linear preamp and a used amp of your choice. If you can get an amp that is fully balanced you will really hear the difference. Bottom line, you need a home theater bypass on the two channel system or buy the Denon x3600h $1000 with 4K video or x3700h $1200 8k video then you will need to find an amp that complements your speakers. These two AVRs are the cheapest avrs that let you reassign the front two amps and add a two channel amp with no problems. BTW please do not buy a preamp or integrated amp with a streamer unless you are laying out $3000 or more. You will be very disappointed. AVRs with streaming is fine. If you decide to go along this route with a DAC or streaming built in go with a Hegel product. Sorry for the length of this post. I don’t want you damaging your system or wasting your money especially when every dollar counts.
This is a very big problem with home theater audiofiles. Most of these ideas are correct especially the preamp/ or integrated amp with a home theater bypass. This lets you have the best of both worlds plus you get to use your existing speakers with your two channel and home theater like I do. Your main problem is your budget because you need a more modern integrated or preamp/ amp combo that has this feature so you do not mess up the components you have. You can mess up your AVR and speakers just plugging your AVR into a two channel system if it is not done properly. The setup I have is the Emotiva 2channel preamp $750 used with your choice of amp. You can use the DAC in your AVR for now but upgrade to a stand alone DAC later. Do not use their amps for music unless you like a sterile sound. Very good for home theater with DSP. You can get a nice amp for $200-$250. You see the dilemma. You are about $250 to $350 short with interconnects. My opinion. Save up some more. Get the Emotiva differential linear preamp and a used amp of your choice. If you can get an amp that is fully balanced you will really hear the difference. Bottom line, you need a home theater bypass on the two channel system or buy the Denon x3600h $1000 with 4K video or x3700h $1200 8k video then you will need to find an amp that complements your speakers. These two AVRs are the cheapest avrs that let you reassign the front two amps and add a two channel amp with no problems. BTW please do not buy a preamp or integrated amp with a streamer unless you are laying out $3000 or more. You will be very disappointed. AVRs with streaming is fine. If you decide to go along this route with a DAC or streaming built in go with a Hegel product. Sorry for the length of this post. I don’t want you damaging your system or wasting your money especially when every dollar counts.