pre amp/processor

Sorry, i ment to write...you posted in hometheater, but you asked about amp/ preamp.

thank you

Good choices so far. After studying the on-line manual and reviews for your Denon 5803, it appears you've got a damn good AVR for its time. While a bit dated, it has the power and features to start you out with a very good sounding surround system. 170 watts/ch/continuous into 8 ohms x 7 is excellent. Must have been top of the line back in the late 90s. It also has 7 audio surround sound formats and a full set up menu. Do you have a sub-woofer yet? While I don't see the dedicated sub-woofer output circuit in the back panel in the manual, it must be there somewhere. The manual shows a sub-woofer connected but I don't see the actual output RCA jack. Weird. There are a ton sub woofer brands out there but since you have B&W speakers, I'd stick with them. I have two and they've been great. I use two for more balanced room loading.

As far as HDMI, I don't bother with those circuits on my Rotel AVR although I don't have the very latest high def audio formats such as Master Audio and Dolby HD. I would have to use HDMI if I had those. I simply connect my Marantz Blu-ray player's HDMI output to my TV's HDMI input for the best in video quality. For audio, I use a mixture of digital and analog interconnects.

Is the Emotiva XPA-2 for powering the front speakers B&W 804s?