preamp questions

[sound is essential]

Ok, I have a quesstion about preamps. I posted a thread in the home theater section about wanting to upgrade my 2 channel sound and I was thinking of going with another more musical receiver such as Marantz or NAD. I currently have a Denon receiver with a full 5.1 setup with B&W 600 series speakers. Home theater sounds fine but music doesn't. I have ordered a Rotel RB980BX 2 channel power amp from ebay and will have it soon. I will use it to power my front channels. It was suggested by another member that I go with a preamp instead of another receiver. So, I guess my question is will a preamp do all of the processing for Dolby Digital, DTS, and Pro Logic II like a receiver does? Also, if I go with the preamp/amp combo since my power amp is only a 2 channel amp how would I power my rear and center speakers? On the pictures of preamp units I have seen online they don't have any speaker connectors, just the rca jacks. So, I know I would use the 2 preamp jacks on the back of the power amp and send those to the preamplifier. But what about the rears and the center? What do I connect those speakers to without a receiver? Is there another component I would need or do I just need to get a 5 channel power amplifier instead of the 2 channel? Help! I'm confused on this stuff.

[topspeed]

Holy cow, no wonder you're confused!

Wading through your questions, it sounds like you like to listent to music in two channel and HT in 5.1, right? If so, you have a few options:

1) The Hybrid: Buy a good pre-amp for music that also incorporates a "Theater Passthrough" switch or at the least has both Tape In & Out and you loop it yourself. Plug the 2x Rotel into the preamp along with your choice of music playback. Now, when you listen to 2 channel, everything will go directly through the CD/Pre/Amp combo and bypass the Denon's processing/manipulation all together.

2) The Purists: Buy a Preamp/Processor (pre/pro) that decodes multi-channel, sell the Denon and use the proceeds for another 3x amp to team with your 2x Rotel.

3) The Cheapest: Plug the Rotel into your Denon and run your mains with it, run the center and surrounds off the receiver's amps, and forget buying a pre alltogether. (Denon's pre sections are pretty good and you get the bonus of using the Burr-Brown dac's in PureDirect mode, which is better than most of the cd player's I've heard)

Make sense?

[sound is essential]

Holy cow, no wonder you're confused!

Wading through your questions, it sounds like you like to listent to music in two channel and HT in 5.1, right? If so, you have a few options:

1) The Hybrid: Buy a good pre-amp for music that also incorporates a "Theater Passthrough" switch or at the least has both Tape In & Out and you loop it yourself. Plug the 2x Rotel into the preamp along with your choice of music playback. Now, when you listen to 2 channel, everything will go directly through the CD/Pre/Amp combo and bypass the Denon's processing/manipulation all together.

2) The Purists: Buy a Preamp/Processor (pre/pro) that decodes multi-channel, sell the Denon and use the proceeds for another 3x amp to team with your 2x Rotel.

3) The Cheapest: Plug the Rotel into your Denon and run your mains with it, run the center and surrounds off the receiver's amps, and forget buying a pre alltogether. (Denon's pre sections are pretty good and you get the bonus of using the Burr-Brown dac's in PureDirect mode, which is better than most of the cd player's I've heard)

Make sense?

So I am correct in my assumption that if I ditch the receiver and decide to go the preamp/amp route I have to get another amp to power the remiaining channels because there is no way to connect any speakers to the back panel of the preamp?