So here is what I am thinking... I run my Yamaha for movies and surround sound. I'd like to run a dedicated two channel preamp for music... but they need to share the same amps and subsequently speakers.

I'd like to put my two channel music source(s) to a good preamp separate from the Yamaha... Could I go from the pre-out of my Yammy to tape IN or something on the two channel preamp so it can pass front channel surround information during movies? Or is there a smarter way to do this that I'm overlooking (outside of buying a bigger house with a dedicated two channel room!)???

what about splitting the signal at the source(s)?

That's not the problem... Don't worry, I'm confused myself! Let me see if I can explain it more clearly...

In reverse order the chain of events would be:

A) The speakers, which are wired to:
B ) The amp(s), which need to get a music signal from:
C) The preamp, unless I'm watching a movie in which case (B ) needs to get it's signal from:
D) The pre-outs on my Yamaha AV receiver.

Ideally that would require an amp with a two source selector. Since none of mine have them I thought about simply feeding the signal from (D) to (C ) which would ideally just pass it the rest of the way down the chain to the amps and speakers.

Ah! I think I see what you were thinking... (E) and so on would be my movie sources, my cable box and dvd player for instance. The cable box could split it's signal to both the (C ) pre-amp and the (D) Yamaha but the dvd player, in this case a PS3 used for blueray, doesn't do any surround sound decoding on board but rather sends the signal via HDMI cable to the Yamaha that then decodes the sound into it's separate channels, the front two of which I want to send down my two channel stream (described above) so my main speakers can play a role as fronts in a surround environment.

Make any sense? The only solution other than "daisy chaining" D -> C would be spending a few hundred dollars on a dedicated blue ray player with decoding on board and separate channel pre-outs, something my PS3 does not have.

I guess another possibility, besides just plugging and unplugging the preamp and the yamaha manually every time I want to change, is to use "Y" splitters in reverse into the amp, making sure only one (either preamp or receiver) is on at any given time? Or can this develop some strange impedance or back wash effect I haven't taken into consideration yet?

I mean the other alternative is to just keep using the Yamaha receiver as my two channel preamp but while it's not bad for it's intended purposes (surround sound) I'm sure a nice dedicated two channel preamp would be an improvement for music.

last time you were over, you mentioned that you had a bunch of generic cabling, I wonder if that might be an area that you could explore and get good results.

elroy

I've upgraded to some Monster brand IC's, not going to get lots of raving reviews in audiophile circles but not generic either. I love the way yours and Scott's systems sound... certainly quality from the ground up... but can't believe that in this case a better cable could make near as much difference as a quality preamp?

(*Might* have a vintage McIntosh preamp in the works!!! )

it does go in steps, doesnt it, I will say this, the different cables I have used have definitely added something to the sound, whether it be, bigger sound stage, more defined low end, or whatever. to me $100 bucks was well spent to hear some subtle changes in the sound out of my system

elroy

the easiest thing i can think of is to change out the ic's for the amp running the front speakers when you switch between stereo and ht. it gets complicated having two preamps in the mix.

Both you guys are right, of course.

I'm sure there must be a simple box with a couple of buttons on it to switch source input... Hell, I probably have such a device sitting in storage somewhere that will probably work. The way my system is "racked" makes it very laborious to try and switch ICs and certainly not very dignified especially considering how much pride I put into the components!

The Yamaha AV receiver was the best bang for the buck when I bought it, top priority being HDMI switching and HD surround format decoding. Sure, it works as a preamp, it even has Burr-Brown 192kHz/24-bit DACs on all the channels, but after hearing the Adcom separates I had half a year ago compared to it, when I first bought it, was astounding in their differences. If a relatively inexpensive Adcom pre (and separate pro and amps) can sound MUCH better for two channel listening than an inexpensive integrated AV receiver, how much improvement would I hear with a truly good preamp? It's a rhetorical question by the way... I intend to find out, for better or worse, once I've slowed down on the amp swapping a bit

Both you guys have VERY good preamps and outboard DACs and sources and... well, you know. I just think that with a few decent amps in my possession, speakers I love and adore, very good speaker wire, and some reasonable ICs that the preamp is probably now the weakest link in my system (that I can affordably remedy. Moving to a bigger house is down the road a bit!)

what would be cool is to have two systems, one for each application.

Hell yeah! Love your setup Scott. I have the gear for two systems but just simply don't have the space (yet).

Your thread title gives me an idea: daisy chain the same preamp over and over with all the gain knobs set to max except the last. How many could you add before the SQ degrades? It would be way expensive, but might settle the ultimate quality questions. I know it will never happen - just imagine trying to get together several dozen copies of a preamp which is not made anymore.