I have a strange setup, brought about by being poor (e.g. 5 children, 3 in collage). I bought a used denon 687 that sounded terrible for my front speakers, and so I bought a 20+ year old H/K PM655 integrated amp for my front speakers. For music I listen to the H/K, for movies I power both amps on. The H/K I feed analog, the denon I feed fiber both from my DVD/CD player. So, I'm mixing an old high end H/K amp with a run of the mill amp for surround sound.

In my listening/movie room, I listen to music 90% of the time and only watch one move once a week. So, music by far is the most important thing to me. I currently use the Denon 687 to power my surround and back speakers. Then I power my front speakers with the H/K PM655. The PM655 has multiple issues, but when it works it sounds great!

I'm thinking about upgrading to something like a Anthem AVM20 (and sell the Denon and H/K) or possibly a two channel Anthem TLP-1 (and keep the Denon for the surround sound).

So, my question, do you loose much by using a different amp for the front and surround speakers? I do lip sync at the DVD player.

Thanks for your help!

Best Regards,
Stan