For those of us that use their systems for 2 channel music and surround sound home theater, does it make sense to just use a prepro as a preamp for music rather than a dedicated 2 channel preamp?
Depends on the quality of the processor. I went on a long journey, and ended up with a Classé SSP-800 before I was happy with the 2ch performance - you don’t need to spend that much for decent 2ch only.
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I have an older Marantz 8801. For me the answer it is beneficial to separate 2 channel from the AV system. I realize that my particular AV system is about 10 years old. It still excels at explosions and other AV sounds.
However for 2 channel, I have a DAC/PreAmp that I believe is superior to the AV system and, I believe is superior also to newer AV systems. This does come with disadvantages, specifically a proliferation of remote controls.
I believe, even modern AV systems with analog bypass for 2 channel do ADC → DAC for volume control so your fancy external DAC is useless. My solution is to use a pre-amp with analog bypass downstream from the AV system. FWIW, for me, TV/Music time ratio is dramatically tilted toward music.
At the moment I have a Parasound P5 preamp, Onkyo RZ900 Receiver, and a Threshold 400A power amp. I will be soon buying a Denefrips dac.
If I were to replace the RZ900 Receiver with a higher end PrePro and add more amps should I still use the P5?