Tired of HT


Okay, here's my situation. I've grown tired of the home theater surround sound deal. I have a Rotel amp, Rotel pre pro, paradigm speakers (20 v.3 fronts, cc470 center, atom rears, pdr10 sub, audioquest, Wadia i170, Cambridge DACmagic, etc. For me, it's about 80-90% music and 10-20% movies. My real love is the music. Where do I do from here? I would like a recommendation on a new amp, pre pro, and speakers. My budget is reasonable, but not necessarily cheap if you know what I mean. Thanks
bob99or
If you have the room(s) and the cash...go for it. It's a luxury to have both
Luxury???

Having two systems sounds more like a PITA to me! Wasting real estate and having two complete systems to tweak?? I'll stick with my system as it is, one that does BOTH 2 channel and HT extremely well.
The use of a good integrated designed for 2-channel but with a pass-through circuit that can be used in conjunction with a HT system is a very high performing solution. It also makes listening to concert DVDs and concert shows much more enjoyable. The two room solution may be better but hardly necessary to get high level performance in both domains.
I have to agree with both Kennyt and Maineiac; combining systems can be acheived with proper selection of electronics and is extremely enjoyable;but I can see it both ways;don't know which is right or wrong but your ears will let you know.
An good integrated amp with home theatre bypass is a great way to keep the 2-channel quality high in a combined system. The trickiest situation for most is how to deal with the sub. For me, I prefer to have the prepro or receiver set to a "no sub" setting. This would then direct all bass information to L&R speakers. Then you'd have the front L&R preout of the prepro or receiver going to the home theatre bypass of the 2-channel integrated amp. Then, I'd take the preouts from the integrated amp and run them to the sub and use the crossover in the sub. The front speakers play full range and you set the sub to the crossover point and level you like best for music. If you really wanted to, for the times you're watching movies, you could turn up the level on the sub and even choose a higher crossover point if you wanted more bass impact. Alternatively, there are subs that would allow for connection from two different sources (ie. sub out on a prepro or receiver and low-level L&R inputs or high-level speaker inputs from the two channel system).