Best pre/pro and m/ch power amp for stereo?

The Onkyo 906 you refer to is great.(Well, I can only vouch for the 905) I really do not think it will disappoint you for HT. It is quiet, user friendly, sounds great, and priced right. The diect mode for concert BluRays and hi rez bluray audio is pretty ideal.

Anthem

RCrerar,

Mark Levinson has the #502, which only decodes LPCM, and is HDMI 1.1.

The Sim Audio pre/pro you speak of only has TWO HDMI in's, pretty weak.

I am not the biggest Mac guy so I am not aware of what they have coming down the pike but anyone I have known to own their pre/pro's has been vexed with problems.

Krell has two out now, the Evo 707, which is absolutely one of the best two channel preamp as well as decoding all the new codecs, $30K. They just released the S1200 which does the codecs as well, no personal experience with how the two channel side is.

Cary has the Cinema 11, also only 2 HDMI ins.

Theta is supposed to release the HDMI board/update for the Casablanca but not sure when.

The Classe SSP 800 is a nice unit and does two channel well especially given it's $8K price point, also consider the Anthem D2v or AVM50v.

I think that sums up most if not all the high end AV Preamps that might fit your bill. I am sure I missed some and others will fill in but it should give you a solid start in hunting one for your system.

If you like your McIntosh equipment then maybe that is the way to go. They make a very highly regarded pre/pro, but it ain't cheap. Either way finding a HT pre/pro that will perform in stereo, at the level a dedicated two channel pre will, is very difficult maybe even impossible. A couple of other candidates may be the new Sim Audio Moon processor which will internally decode all of the newest hi rez audio codecs available from the Bluray format. It is either just now becoming available or will be very shortly. Also Levinson has a new processeor being released soon that will also decode Dolby True HD, and DTS HD Master Audio internally but the price, OUCH! Along with the Integra unit these are the only high end pre/pros that currently decode the high end surround formats that I know of. Truthfully, if the concern is strictly audio then having a pre/pro that decodes the hi-rez codecs internally is not neccessary, as many of the new Bluray players will decode them internally and route them to the RCA multi-channel outputs on the back of the player, which you then in turn connect to the multi-channel analogue pass-through inputs on your pre/pro. This opens up the available choices significantly.

As far as mutichannel amplifiers go some suggestions would be an older EAD 8300, or the Moon Titan, or possibly the Theta Dreadnaught,or again McIntosh.