pre-amps for home theatre....whats your preference?

As always when people ask for help, defining a budget is useful.
I am very happy with my two Anthem MX-520 /AVRs in my 2 HT systems.  Certainly they were an upgrade of the AVRs that preceded them for music.
As for the hyperbolic statement that one can't get good musical results with an AVR, it's just nonsense, particularly with multichannel recordings.  If you have good speakers and the room itself is amenable (many HT are in basements or garages that just don't lend themselves to good sound reproduction) then there is no reason that you can't get a good outcome

millercarbon has forever been on a crusade to kill multi-channel home theater.  It's pretty much like a broken record.

my 2 channel credentials are tip top. i’m as dedicated a 2 channel/analog guy as there is. yet.......i’ve just jumped up from the ’nice’ Anthem AVM60 7.1.4 processor in my separate Home Theater, to the big boy very serious Trinnov Altitude 16 dsp processor and 9.3.6 speaker set-up.

https://www.trinnov.com/altitude-16/

the Trinnov is incoming, the Anthem is still here.

my agenda is to discover just how close ’all-in’ multichannel immersive audio can get to my ’all-in’ dedicated 2 channel room.

i can make a case for the lower level receiver approach, and the more robust Anthem AVM60 approach. ask me in a few months about the balls to the wall Trinnov approach.

the new immersive audio tracks on 4k movies can be very enjoyable, and quality sound does make a difference. but how important is it to you? that’s a personal question only you can answer. how involving do you want your movies to be?

there are awesome immersive Dolby Atmos music mixes coming out now all the time; even streaming on Tidal. Netflix now requires Dolby Atmos on their new productions. so this is right now a deal getting to be a big deal. the quality of the sound matters especially without a picture.

note; i will be selling my ’mint’ Anthem AVM60 very reasonably next week.

I prefer to use a preamp with by-pass capability with a processor. Use the preamp for stereo music and for the front two channels of surround. I’ve used a Parasound JC-2 BP with a Bryston SP3 and now an Ayre KX-5 Twenty with the SP3. But that may be overkill if you’re sure your interest is movies not music.  Maybe an AVR would satisfy you needs.  A preamp and/or processor implies amps, a more complex and likely more expensive solution.

db

Get a good denon avr x something for movies and a killer integrated with ht bypass for your stereo listening time. All you really need.