If HT is your thing, then get the EAD Ovation TheaterMaster or the Sony 9000, both are SOTA. The Sony has a bypass mode which sends signals around all processing. However, HT coding is still in the "wars" stage (remember QS vs SQ quadraphonic - is 5.1 vs Dolby any different?). Agree with Tomp's reply about 2-channel for music, but why have a preamp at all? As far as tubes are concerned, they DO sound different, but this listener prefers not to have a distortion/equalizer unit in the sound chain. There are some excellent inexpensive preamps available if you need gain, believe it or not the cheap Rotel preamp has performance equal to a Krell, and the Morrison op-amp-based GAIN ONLY preamp will neither add nor subtract ANYTHING from your 2-channel listening experience.
Preamps: Tubes/music or SS/HT Best of both ????
While I make my living in the sound business I'm new to the world of highend home gear. I listen to classical with some 70's and 80's pop. I want because of space and money reasons to have HT and Music systems combined. I have chosen and bought Aerial 8 speakers now I am looking to upgrade my Carver electronics. I like transparant speakers with deep soundstage. I am told that only tube preamps will give me the music I want (power amp can be tube or SS). There doesn't seem to be a tube preamp that does the home theatre descrambling. How have others of you solved this dilema. I recently saw a Proceed AVP (one of the best and most expensive SS/HT pre's on sale for $3800 )by a guy who said he had decided to do a 2 channel only system. The fact that he was willing to take a $1200 loss after just 6 months would suggest that the AVP isn't so good with music. How have others of you solved this dilema (hopefully without repatching different head units for music or HT ???