Home Theater and Two Channel With Out Reciever?

Lot's and lots of audiophiles(with 2 channel hi-end systems) do what you're asking about doing for HT purposes. The problem is that when you do the DD/DTS processing in the DVD player, and connect it(DVD player) to your 2 channel preamp through Analog connections, IT NEVER SOUNDS AS DYNAMIC! I've tried this time and time again. And no DVD player's analog outs(and internal DD/DTS processing, coupled either dirrectly to an amp, or through a preamp/amp combo, seems to pull this off well enough FOR TRUELY DYNAMIC DD/DTS PLAYBACK, as was intended by the mixers!
You would have better overall(especially dynamic)movie playback through your 2 channel system BY EVEN SIMPLY ADDING A RECEIVER AS A DIGITAL PRE/PRO FOR ACOUPLE HUNDRED BUCKS!..TRUST ME!(OR TRY FOR YOURSELF, AND YOU'LL KNOW) Even better, you can buy AN OUTBOARD DD/DTS PRE/PRO SUCH AS A MODEST ACURUS ACT 3, CLASSE SSP25, THULE, or similar, and have audiophile grade quality sonics for movies, and not spend a fortune.
Rember this however, if you do value the sonic capability that's avalable from DD/DTS, YOU NEED AN OUTBOARD DD/DTS PROCESSOR!...there's really no way around it for properly doing movies. Infact, I too use a high end 2 channel set-up with sub, but I loop in a digital pre/pro for movie chores. This is really the only way to do it right it seems.

I have just been through the same ordeal with similar equipment. My solution was to add an anolog pre with unity gain surround loop and use my HT receiver as pre/pro for movies and multi channel. Made a huge difference with 2-channel. From the equipment you have listed it appears that your receiver has main ins/pre outs for all channels. If your receiver has the processing features you want I would reccommend keeping it for now and getting a good preamp with the surround loop. As you stated good pre/pro's cost an arm and leg and still may not do 2-channel as well as a preamp that costs a fraction of the price. Additionally a 2-analog preamp will not be obsolete with the next generation of dolby, dts or whatever and you can just replace your receiver with another with the newer features.
Anyway, just my rationalization.

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll keep my current reciever (A Marantz 7200 or something, I'm not sure it's a few years old) and use it for a processor. My next step will be to find a pre with home theater loop. Any ideas on a tube amp that has this feature and would marry up well with my system?

Once again, thanks for the excellent advice.

I think the surround loop is a fairly common feature on preamps now. McIntosh & Conrad Johnson were the only tube preamps with surround loops I auditioned but I'm sure there are many more.

I'm new at this (upgrading from stereo to HT) and am learning the lingo. I'm thinking of doing the same thing. What is a "surround loop" or a "home theater loop." What other terms would this go by, i.e. if I was looking at specs for a receiver what would I look for to make sure the receiver has it.

Thanks