Rasiahm, to get good imaging and instrument placement out of a multichannel preamp is not easy. First off, most music is based on 2 channels, right and left.
most budget avr preamps have just too many compromises which degrade the signal in the analog domain. And employing digital processing gives results which are entirely different than what the artist intended.
Bottom line, what is your goal? Two channel bliss out of a multi channel set up? Or would you be happy with a good rendering in the digital domain?
Both can be pleasing, but to get both in one unit will probably cost you dearly. I’d also suggest the above mentioned Outlaw unit, or a Marantz prepro. Since you have Bryson amps, upping your budget could yield much better results over the budget Emotiva stuff.
For 2 channel audio bliss, I have a separate 2 channel set up just for music, but that might not be possible for you.
