Need advice for a beginner.


My system consist of marantz 7012, Martin Logan 60XT, 2 McIntosh MC501 monoblock, Bluesound node 2i, 2 powered subs, and rear and overhead speakers, and a new turntable to be purchased soon. I started out with doing surround sound and Now I have realized I have the Bug for 2 Channel listing. My problem is I want to do both. My question is how to do this with what I have or do I need to purchase a preamp? I do stream music on tidal. Thanx in advance.  Jp
jpkeogh
The short answer is yes, you can absolutely incorporate a very good 2-channel system within your current system, and it's super easy.  My strong recommendation would be, if you like the sound of your Macs, buy a stereo preamp that mates well with them sonically, and with one extra pair of interconnects, you're good to go.  The Marantz is a huge bottleneck to your 2-channel performance, so you need to get it out of there for good stereo sound.  Here's how...

You just run an interconnect from the front L/R preouts from the Marantz to the HT pass through on the stereo preamp (or any unused line-level input if there's no HT bypass), then run an interconnect from the outputs of the stereo pre to the inputs on the Macs.  Then move your stereo source output also from the Marantz input to an input on the stereo pre.  That's it -- you're done!

The only thing is that if your stereo pre doesn't have a HT bypass feature, which is fine, you'll need to set a reference level on the stereo pre for when you're doing HT so the front L/R speakers have the proper volume level relative to your other HT speakers.  I just used the 12:00 position on the stereo preamp's volume control because it's easily repeatable, and then reset the channel balance again through your Marantz as usual. 

With this setup, when you listen to 2-channel the Marantz is COMPLETELY out of the system and has no impact on sound.  I think this is what you were looking for.  Hope this helps, and best of luck!
Add the McIntosh tube preamp that has Dac built in, and connect the bluesound to it, and set up the HT passthrough on the McIntosh. Unless you had a high-end HT processor like a Theta Casablanca III HD/IV with Extreme 2 Dacs which has an outstanding preamp for 2 channel the Marantz is going to be your bottleneck. There is no substitute for an amazing preamp. Also, run Balanced XLR to your 501’s. 
My audiophile friend is running that McIntosh tube/dac preamp with 275 Mac tube amp and bluesound 2i into the Dac section and it really improved his system and he has owned Mcintosh solid state amps before
Thanx for all the advice,  can you tell me which Mac tube preamp would do everything you suggested.  Thanx, jp
Mcintosh C2600 preamp has an integrated DAC that my friend is using. upgrading the tubes via Kevin at Upscale audio added even more clarity