Best AV Processor for 2 channel

In its price range the Cary Cinema 5 is an outstanding 2 channel or HT pre.

Do you have LP's? Is that why two channel pass through is important?

Because otherwise the DACs in the Prepros are likely better than what is in your DAC or Cd player.

Two channel is inferior for Redbook CD playback anyway in my experience.

In less than a month I am going to Chicago to compare the EMM DAC6 and the TAG McLaren AV192, the person who owns these devices tells me there is very little difference between the two on Redbook CD in two channel. He prefers TMS to either two channel options. So maybe your compromising your 7.1 channel to accomadate your 2 channel.

A foriegn thought on this site for sure.

Meridian Surround Processor, its the only choice, until TAG McLaren Processors are resurrected as AudioLab.

I had the same idea in mind when I went shopping for my gear. I ended up with the Parasound C2. I actually met the owner of Parasound and talked with him a fair bit. His vision was building a great 2 channel preamp that was ALSO a great 7.1 prepro. I think he succeeded. The C2 sounds awesome and you can bypass the processors by using the analog 7.1 inputs of the C2. It also has a ton of other features, inputs, outputs and upgradable software. Check it out.

I had the same dilema and went with the Aragon Soundstage. Sounds great in stereo with the stereo direct mode which bypasses the the DACs and goes straight to the amplifier. This feature is availabe on all inputs.

Hope this helps.

I have both a Parasound Halo C2 and Proceed AVP2+6 and I can tell you that the Proceed kills the Halo pre-pro when it comes to the analog 2 channel and SACD. Redbook CD's also sound better when fed through the digital input but the difference is more subtle.
The Proceed does bass manegement through it's 6 channel analog input which the Halo C2 does not. To make sure this was not the difference I did set them up exactly the same with no bass manegement and set the levels using the Avia test disc. The Proceed AVP2 still produced such a stunning soundstage and air around the instruments that I was in heaven.
I do prefer the Halo C2 in home theater though which is not what I expected.
Since you can pick up a Proceed AVP2+6 for around $2,700 to $3,200 I am sure you would not be disapointed. Make sure it has the +6 option though if bass manegement for SACD/DVD-A is important to you as it sounds very transparent to me in use.