2.1 disability...

I don't know anything about your Audio Refinement gear specifically, but I looked up some specs on it and I have an idea that may at least a discussion started.

The listed audio inputs are: 5.1 analog (RCA), 3 analog 2-channel (RCA), 3 digital coaxial (RCA), 1 digital optical (TosLink)

The fact that it lists the 5.1 analog inputs seperately from the 2-channel inputs makes me think that they are not all connected equally internally.

I'm going to take a wild guess that you might have the left and right inputs connected via the 2-channel inputs and the subwoofer connected to the 5.1 channel input. I don't know how it works, but I read about people using the tape loop to trick equipment before so it may be connecting the two somehow.

If you have everything connected via the 5.1 channel inputs then I'm not sure unless you're in an audio mode that doesn't allow for a subwoofer. My receiver doesn't do bass management in Direct Mode so I must use another mode for 2 channel audio listening.

The best reason to upgrade would be to add a blu-ray player and HDMI connections for HD audio. This is a significant improvement in movie sound quality.

My wife has made me stop a movie and fix the output on the blu-ray player once because it wasn't sending the HD track and it sounded like poo poo compared to the first time we watched the movie.

The Audio Refinement Pre2DSP was a transitional product, as was their Pre5. There are analog multichannel preamps that do not have such constraints but, as Mceljo says, it is time to move on to a modern device that will do HDMI as well as analog.

Kal

Mceljo - I so appreciate you taking the time to help try to answer my question. That's what I love about this community - people are just so generous with their expertise here. You were correct in your analysis on how I have the outputs configured.

Kal - I did not know it was considered a transitional product. Would you, or anyone else for that matter, recommend any processor in particular? I was thinking of one of the Integra pieces like the 80.1 or the 9.9? I wanted to spend around $1,000 for a used piece here on Audiogon. I was planning on using the device for audio only and sending video via HDMI directly to the new TV I am getting in about 2 weeks - the new Panasonic 65" VT30 plasma (I'm excited about that !!).

Again - thank you so much for your time and consideration in helping me out.

The Integras are good machines and each was pretty much at the cutting edge for its time. There was a big change in the analog portions for the 80.1/2 but, for digital, all are performers. Just choose your feature set.