Help me with a digital Font end

Steve,
ANY pre-amp will work ... the HT pass-thru or processor input just makes it more convenient (you don't have to return the preamp volume setting to the "reference/calibrated" setting). If music is 90% of the use, this may not be a big deal for you, and will keep the field wide-open.

How do I hook up a pre/proc to a 2 channel pre-amp? I'm assuming that I should hook up my music cd-player to the pre-amp and my DVD player to the pre/proc(yes?,no?, maybe?) Do I then use any particular imput jacks on the back of the pre-amp to hook the pre/proc into? Probably dumd questions but I'm clueless and I surely don't want to be plugging stuff into places it shouldn't be plugged into and blowing up my system

Thanks,

Steve

Your digital or video sources are connected to the prepro, analog sources (including DAC outputs from digital sources)to the 2ch pre. The amp (or amp channels) feeding the L/R mains are fed from the main-outs of the 2ch pre, the amp/channels feeding center and surround speakers are fed by the outputs on the prepro. If the 2ch pre has a processor loop, you'd hook up the L/R main-outs from the prepro to those preamp inputs and simply select that source when viewing sources connected to the prepro. Selecting this processor source bypasses all the pre's circuitry including the volume control. If you do not have a processor loop/input, you can use the tape loop input. However, this means the 2ch pre's volume control is still in the circuit as well, so to maintain correct calibration of the multi-channel setup, you must pick a convenient volume setting on the 2ch pre (say top dead center), and do your calibration and then all subsequent viewing/listening thru the prepro at this same 2ch pre volume setting. Make sense? There's a thread originated by Thomas in Preamps/amps entitled "Well, another preamp/HT integration question ..." you may want to read. Good luck!
Tim

Inscrutable; many thanks for a very clear explaination, I think this will be a great way for me to go.
Any suggestions/recommendations for a quality pre-amp in the (used) $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 range?

Thanks,

Steve

Sorry if I'm being repetitive here, but the Adcom GFA-750 is widely considered to be an outstanding stereo preamp and it offers an HT pass-through. Very dynamic and transparent. Unless you're looking for tubes I think this one will be tough to beat, and you can get one new for a street price of around $1200(used for around $750 although I wouldn't recommend it) and not have to worry about buying a used preamp. Plus you can probably demo it in your system to see if it works for you before you buy it.

Also in the solid state realm is the McCormack RLD-1 which also has the pass-through feature and is a little more tube-like than the GFA-750. Levinson/Proceed offers a pass-through but I don't know if you could hit your price target even with a used unit. Without the pass-through I'd consider something used from Pass Labs or maybe the Musical Fidelity A3CR.

On the tube side you can find stereo preamps with pass-throughs from Sonic Frontiers, Rogue, BAT, Audio Research, Conrad-Johnson, PSE, VAC, and probably a few others. My top recommendation would be the Adcom for performance, value, and ease of use in an HT application. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Tim(the other Tim)