I'm strictly two-channel for music. I use a surround processor for movies only, although I have used both an Anthem AVM20 and a Proceed AVP2 in the past when I tried to combine HT and two channel in the same system. As I wrote, the Anthem is a real nice piece of gear, a great bang for the buck, but the Proceed is in a different league; More air, detail, more transparent, open, larger, more palpable soundstage, more natural sounding. The fact that you can now get a used Proceed AVP2 for around the same as a used Anthem AVM20 makes the Proceed a screaming deal, IMO. A receiver is never going to sound as good as a Proceed AVP2 with outboard amplification. In the end, I was using the Proceed's two channel pass through to play two-channel music through it, using it as a passive pre-map. It is very similar to the Meitner Switchman when used that way, which is a huge compliment to the Proceed AVP2. But -- hey -- if you have a problem with Proceed and Levinson gear, there isn't much I am going to be able to share with you. I love my Levinson 436's and there's no way I would take a receiver over a Proceed AVP2 unless it was strictly for home theater, strictly for convenience, like if I didn't have room for separates or something. B & K, Anthem, Sunfire, all of those are a step down, then receivers are another step down.
