@spatialking Pure Direct, I believe that’s what you’re referencing. Unfortunately, your Marantz doesn’t have home theater pass-thru; which that would allow you to purchase a dedicated 2-channel preamp, have it in line with your Marantz, and allow you to utilize the rest of your components.
In lieu of that, I would investigate purchasing a DAC, that can operate as a preamp, too. PSAudio and Mytek come to mine. I will share that I’ve used PSAudio’s Direct Stream Junior, in conjunction with their NuWave Phono Preamp over the I2S protocol and it sounded unbelievably good. I A/B’ed against my Moon phono preamp, and, well, I got rid of the Moon. Nonetheless, purchasing a DAC and using that as your source input, fed thru your Marantz will allow you to use your amps and subs. When you move to vinyl, you can just unplug your interconnects from the Marantz and plug them directly into your DAC, you won’t use your subs while listening to vinyl, so those become a moot point. Some likely do, but there’s some logic associated with why some don’t. Isolation of the turntable comes to mind, lack of a low pass filter on older mixes, a lot of mucking about with sub levels to get it right and such. It can be done, and others will likely chime in, stating why I’m wrong. Ultimately, you’ve got a great home theater pre, has all the bells and whistles, so getting rid of it and getting something with HT pass-thru probably isn’t worth it. Hence, I believe getting a DAC that can operate as a preamp will solve your 2-channel pursuits. Additionally, if you’re moving to vinyl, I would strongly recommend getting an external phono stage and bypass the internal Marantz one.
In lieu of that, I would investigate purchasing a DAC, that can operate as a preamp, too. PSAudio and Mytek come to mine. I will share that I’ve used PSAudio’s Direct Stream Junior, in conjunction with their NuWave Phono Preamp over the I2S protocol and it sounded unbelievably good. I A/B’ed against my Moon phono preamp, and, well, I got rid of the Moon. Nonetheless, purchasing a DAC and using that as your source input, fed thru your Marantz will allow you to use your amps and subs. When you move to vinyl, you can just unplug your interconnects from the Marantz and plug them directly into your DAC, you won’t use your subs while listening to vinyl, so those become a moot point. Some likely do, but there’s some logic associated with why some don’t. Isolation of the turntable comes to mind, lack of a low pass filter on older mixes, a lot of mucking about with sub levels to get it right and such. It can be done, and others will likely chime in, stating why I’m wrong. Ultimately, you’ve got a great home theater pre, has all the bells and whistles, so getting rid of it and getting something with HT pass-thru probably isn’t worth it. Hence, I believe getting a DAC that can operate as a preamp will solve your 2-channel pursuits. Additionally, if you’re moving to vinyl, I would strongly recommend getting an external phono stage and bypass the internal Marantz one.