Step up from $2000 rec. to dedicated pre-pro?

You're exactly right, music is much more difficult to get sounding good than HT. For a receiver, I'd recommend Arcam. I've heard the $1500-$3500 Pioneer, Rotel, Integra, Denon, Sony, Yamaha, NAD and B&K receivers. The Rotel, B&K & NAD all sounded okay for music. But the Arcam AVR300 was the only 1 to sound good. It has a true 170 watt per channel rating for the front 2 channels in music, 100 watt x 5 for surround. Instead of the usual over-stated Japanese ratings for a very narrow band. I owned the $3300 Integra DSP 9.1 (I got 1 for a good price) with bells & whistles out the wazzoo, but it was terrible for music, and even home theater had a dull, muffled sound. My Rotel 1066 and Parasound 2205A combo for $3000 absolutely blew the Integra away. And I even prefer the Arcam sound over that combo. It's not as dynamic, won't play as loud, but it seems to pull out details from music and movies better, and has a warm, almost nostalgic sound. The 1066 has a kind of digital, analytical sound on music. I'd put the Arcam up against any $1500 pre-amp processor.

But for really good 2 channel music you have to go to a dedicated 2 channel pre in my opinion. No processor or receiver in your price range, or even 5 times as much can match a good $2000+ 2 channel pre. I've owned the $5000 AVP, $6500 AVP2 and $4500 Integra RC7 pre-amp processors, with the Integra being my favorite. All well reviewed, but couldn't match an Audio Research LS16 on music in a side-by-side demo. Which was $3000 new, selling for around $1800 now. And I've heard the Ayre K-5x up against the $10,000 Lexicon and Theta Casablana II, and for $7000 less I thought it cleanly beat them both on music. With the Casablanca being jaw-dropping for movies.

Most $2000 new 2 channel pre-amps will have HT pass-through for movies. So if you really want a step-up, I recommend you research $2000+ when new, 2 channel pre-amps. Otherwise, maybe pickup an Arcam AVR100 or 200 for less than $1000. Which is almost stealing at that price.
Good luck.

The more I tried to make my home theater amp also work/integrate with 2 channel the harder it got with compromises to both effects. Currently I am recomending to my friends an "ok" inexpensive 5 channel receiver with a matched set of 5 speakers (Polk, DefTech, Paradigm, etc) with all speaker wire the same from a bulk roll. This gives a satisfactory surround sound movie only experience and leaves the BIG money for a 'REAL' 2 channel system. Personally I'm going to sell my Paradigm big center channel and replace it with 2 small Radio Shack 4" speakers for space considerations as well as more intelligible voice for these old ears. Rear speakers are now home-made with crossover built to match characteristics of main 2 speakers (were Zingali 6", going to Zingali 8").
Hope this gets you thinking about some other options to not get trapped into a mid-fi compromised system, let us know how it works out, best of luck, Mike.

I'm starting to see that even when used just as a pre-processor, the HT system will most likely be a compromise. I wasn't planning on using the amplification features of the receiver (except maybe for 1 channel) which is why I was mostly concerned with how good the receiver was as a pre-amp.
I'm now looking for a good 2 channel "pure" pre-amp with HT bypass, and I guess I won't be so concerned about the receiver, because it won't be used for music too often.
A local dealer sells Bel Canto, Musical Fidelity and PS Audio pre-amps, so I'll have to go audition, or maybe do some reasearch and just buy used.
I may need to rethink my speaker choices too. I was going to buy 5 identical speakers but I may now go with a really nice pair for stereo use and round out the center / surrounds with something that's voice matched but not identical down the road.

I use my Arcam as a pre for the 2 mains, (using an Ayre V-3X to power them) and the receiver to power the center and surround channels. I've heard it against the Rotel 1066 and the $1500 NAD processor, used as a pre, and slightly preferred the Arcam. A little smoother sound, with the other 2 being a little more dynamic, the NAD a little forward. But definitely try to hear a unit 1st.

And I agree with your latest decision on your speakers. :)