MARK LEVINSON No. 40 PRO/PRE

Yes db's idea is a great one.

I have my L-R fronts driven by my higher fidelity audio system (Pass pre and amps) while my Oppo feeds a Classe pre/pro that provides the high level signal to the amps for my center + surrounds + rears.

The Classe pre/pro outputs are plugged into my Pass pre as input #3.

When I listen to a high quality two channel audio source, it plays through high end components. When I listen to a 7 channel AV source, my high end L-R fronts are used plus my center and surrounds and rears via the pre/pro.

I still have his father, Proceed PAV/DSD multichannel decoder and absolutely happy with him. I don't use it as stereo preamp but his job is wonderful.
I know, I know, I don't have new multichannel lossless format decoder, but... i have had some Onkyo, Rotel and Denon stuff and the sound is not the same.
Good luck and enjoy this piece of art

I have a Proceed PAV/PDSD pair in our living room with an Oppo 95 connected to the PDSD bypass. The PAV controls volume. The Oppo decodes lossless formats. For reasons I don't understand, I prefer the sound of this setup to having the output from the Oppo go directly to the Proceed amps.

db