Best processor that is excellent for 2 Ch music

I'm using an Arcam AVR300 which is pretty darned nice with an after market power cord.

I also highly recommend Cary Audio HT separates - incredibly good sounding gear for music. It has the house sound of their high end 2 channel gear with the processing power for HT.

In fact, I like it as well or better than Lexicon, Meridian and other SOTA gear.

Cary turns up here used once in awhile, where is is usually snapped up by music lover types who want to integrate music & movies into one system.

Flrnlamb, have you actually heard the Cary multi-channel pre-pros? The newest one, at 6k, it's a serious pice of audio gear (yes, "audio". Several of their earlier pre-pros are available reasonably and are very good sounding.

No, I don't think they sound better than my stand-alone 2 channel tubed preamp (Herron VTSP1a-166, which is fed by a Cary 303/300 into Herron M150 mono amps thence into Alon Vs).

But I'd put the older Cary pre-pros up against any $500-$700 used 2 channel preamp.

For me, the AVR 300 is dandy in a separate system from the main 2 channel rig. But if I had to condense down into one set up I'd be using my next pre (upgrading to the Herron VTSP-2 soon) with HT by-pass.

We always seem to disagree...;-)

For those who have the $$ and want to cut down on boxes the Cary is a very good sonic solution. (The pre section is not tubed BTW, although Cary is famous for their tubed pres and amps.)

As I mentioned, I'm listening to my 2 channel through 4K of tubed preamp so I'm pretty picky about 2 channel. I trust my ears.

It's just another way for someone to consider - your suggestion is valid and good adice, but not the only option.

Cheers!