Is 3 CH with a HT pre/pro better than 2 Channel

3 channel surround ("shallow surround") is great for near-field HT. I fully recommend it for small or shallow rooms, I use it in my bedroom system and it is beautiful for movies with 3 channels of Antique Sound Labs Wave 8 mono tube amps, a Panasonic 22" LCD TV and both my current B&K Ref. 30 processor and the Adcom GTP-600 processor I had been using previous to it. My system is corner-loaded as well, so the Acoustic Energy Aegis One monitors get a nice LF boost. I have them mated to an AE Aegis Center. Power cords to all the amps are all identical - LAT ACII 3'. Nice coherent voice to the overall system.

My older brother is moving into a new apartment, and has a large but shallow living room. I've started him with the Adcom GTP-600 pre/pro and a B&K ST1430 mkII 3-channel amp to power Wharfedale fronts + center. A great and enveloping movie (+ good stereo sound) experience for his situation.

The best thing about 3-channel is, if you change configurations, you can always put your best 2-channel money and effort into your stereo frontend and relegate the 3-channels of amp to powering rears/center.

In the right situatuion (especially a flexible or transitional one), I wholeheartedly recommend the approach for its flexibilty, performance, and future-proofness. Sounds like with your future plans, you could do yourself a favor both now and later by considering this approach like you have.

Yyz:

I think your 3-channel idea will work fine, given the size of your room. You may miss some of the special effects surround stuff, but there are times I think that aspect of HT is quite over-rated.

The sole suggestion I can offer is to get a better pre-pro than the Outlaw, given the quality of the rest of your system. A home theater pre/pro that handles both music and voice accurately adds a lot of enjoyment to the overall experience, so I'd give some additional consideration to getting a pre/pro that is more commensurate with the rest of your system. There are a lot of threads in the A-gon archive about good pre/pros that are reasonably priced (particularly used, such as those made by Rotel, B&K, and Adcom. For a bit more money, you could also get a Bryston SP-1 (now superceded by the SP-1.7), which is an excellent unit that should be available for less than $2k.

Yyz:

I think your 3-channel idea will work fine, given the size of your room. You may miss some of the special effects surround stuff, but there are times I think that aspect of HT is quite over-rated.

The sole suggestion I can offer is to get a better pre-pro than the Outlaw, given the quality of the rest of your system. A home theater pre/pro that handles both music and voice accurately adds a lot of enjoyment to the overall experience, so I'd give some additional consideration to getting a pre/pro that is more commensurate with the rest of your system. There are a lot of threads in the A-gon archive about good pre/pros that are reasonably priced (particularly used), such as those made by Rotel, B&K, and Adcom. For a bit more money, you could get a Bryston SP-1 (now superceded by the SP-1.7), which is an excellent unit that should be available for less than $2k.