Amp choice for VA Mahlers

Good to hear from everyone on what works. Tricky to do a cost benefit analysis here. I live in London where i am seeing a GAMUT D200 mk2 at a good price. CAM350 may be available in continental europe. Theta out there. I am inclined to get a pre /proc that is good w music, possibly classe SSP30 (reasonable price) and move existing Marantz gear to secondary duty in my kids room (everyone gets an upgrade). The gamut is easy to get a hold of and I can almost visualise liking it, the classe is a bit of a stretch financially but I know I can fill in the back channels with some of there less expensive 2 channels or even my existing ROskans. I originally was totally dedicated to 2 channel and wondering if the 5.1 new formats were even worthwhile but I must admit that ever since I have the Malher s , I can truly hear a difference. I am willing to beleive that you dont have to exactly match all of the amps, it seems that if you are starting from nothing you may as well . I have the rel strata III but never run it with the Mahlers in 2ch since overkill. Have it on very lightly even with movies. I appreciate all of the feedback. I will make a point to come back and tell you what happens next.

i mostly listen to music and am inclined to follow your advice to go with a good pre amp and integrate it into the setup. I could see going with the Gamut amp and one of the preamps you mentioned. There is a vk20 BAT pre although I get the impression that the tube BATS are more impressive. For AR I wouldnt know which ones have a bypass. I go look at there site and see whats available out there. There are some used CLasse cp60 could work and importantly their tech support say it can be rewired to 220v.
I had taken a view that HT needed to be good to be enjoyable whereas 2 channel can be taken far because your attention is 100% focused on the music and therefore one can really invest and appreciate the difference