Combining home theater with two channel

OP might look for a high quality used processor to use with his amp rather than an integrated.  I use a pricy Bryston SP3, but I think a Cary Cinema 12 would be fine.  My setup is similar to that described by bkeske.  The SP3 sends balanced front LR analog to an Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp bypass and center channel directly to a Parasound JC 1 amp.  A good processor direct to his amp should be fine for stereo and HT without a separate preamp. 

In Parasound's terminology JC used to indicate that John Curl was involved in the design of a component.  Wonder if that's true of the JC 5.  I have 3 JC 1 monoblocks (400 watts @ 8Ω, 800 watts @ 4Ω) and a JC 2.

Thanks for the information, jdub39. The JC5 must be a really nice 5 channel amp. I use five pieces of equipment, an Ayre VX-5 Twenty for stereo, JC 1 for center, and a pair of NAD 268 stereo amps for side and back surround. The preamp, streamer, disc player, and phono stage are Ayre. Before Ayre it was all Parasound, JC 3 phono stage, JC 2 preamp, 3 JC 1s for LCR, and a pair of A 23s for side and rear surround. A Bryston SP3 does surround processing for Ayre as it did for Parasound.

jdub39, a stereo version of the JC 1 makes much more sense. I don’t know what I was thinking. The number after JC has had nothing to do with the number channels. JC 2 is a preamp, JC 3 a phono stage. At 85 I may have been exhibiting a senior moment.

My setup is similar to that described by bkeske. For surround, a Bryston SP3 processor sends balanced front LR to an Ayre preamp by-pass, balanced center to the JC 1, and balanced surround to pair of NAD 268s. For stereo it’s just Ayre preamp & amp. Speakers are KEF Reference 1s, 204/2C, 4 LS50s, and a pair of Velodyne HGS-15s with bass management.

jdub39,

It's hard to tell how well the JC 1 matches the Ayre KV-5 Twenty, because the speakers they drive are so different.  The KEF Reference 204/2C the JC 1 drives is a five speaker array, with a center uni-Q, and was designed to match the big 207/2s.  The KEF Reference 1s the KV-5 drives are 3-way stand-mounts.  What I can say is that the sound of the complex blends seamlessly. 

I used a JC 2 with three JC 1s and a JC 3 the same way I do the Ayre gear, using JC 2 by-pass for surround. The main speakers were KEF Reference 107/2s. The setup sounded great, but I got hooked on the sound of an Ayre C-5xeMP disc player and I like to keep components in the same family, thus the shift to Ayre. The C-5xeMP has been replaced by a DX-5 DSD; two of the JC 1s, the JC 2, and JC 3 are in boxes waiting for me to list them for sale.

I don’t understand Millercarbon’s point unless he means a preamp with by-pass capabillity is inadequate for stereo, or speakers used for stereo are inadequate for the front LR of an HT setup. I use an Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp and KEF Reference 1s augmented with a pair of Velodyne HGS-15s for stereo. The only change is the Ayre DX-5 DSD sends digital HDMI to a Bryston SP3 for surround instead of balanced analog to the Ayre preamp for stereo; the SP3 sends balanced front LR to the preamp by-pass. The same Ayre VX-5 Twenty is the amp for stereo or front LR. Where’s the harm?