@maguir
Don’t worry a single second about using something like the Marantz as your processor, it’s DAC is high quality and it’s pre-outs are high voltage and low distortion. Not really gonna gain any real benefit from using an audiophile grade stereo pre-amp/DAC.
Since you seem to want a 2ch setup plus your surround setup, the way you would have this wired is having the 2ch setup as Zone 2 (you lose any room correction though). I would test out the speakers as the main left/right for the surround sound as well, as that would simplify things, and even though the center may not be timbre matched, it’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, I’ve seen many people’s setups where they use a different brand for the center as their main speakers don’t have a matching one, and they can’t tell there is any mismatch.
Don’t worry a single second about using something like the Marantz as your processor, it’s DAC is high quality and it’s pre-outs are high voltage and low distortion. Not really gonna gain any real benefit from using an audiophile grade stereo pre-amp/DAC.
Since you seem to want a 2ch setup plus your surround setup, the way you would have this wired is having the 2ch setup as Zone 2 (you lose any room correction though). I would test out the speakers as the main left/right for the surround sound as well, as that would simplify things, and even though the center may not be timbre matched, it’s not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, I’ve seen many people’s setups where they use a different brand for the center as their main speakers don’t have a matching one, and they can’t tell there is any mismatch.