I currently use a rotel 1058 av receiver for my multichannel theater use. i use the pre outs to a cary 120s amp for the fronts with a theater bypass on my Lector ZOE preamp. The TT is and DAC is connected directly to the preamp and amp without using the rotel. I was trying to figure out the best way to upgrade the multichannel part of the system. Can i buy a 3.1 amp with a surround processor with pre outs to the cary amp? or do i have to get another 5.1 system. The intent is to continue to use the cary amp for my two channel without swapping speaker cables every time i want to listen to multichannel. thanks
You should be able to switch between stereo and multichannel without swapping cables. You can use the speaker-level outputs from the Rotel to drive the center and surround speakers, and the left/rigth line-level outputs to feed your preamp.