HT pass through or 2 sets cables?

Home theater pass-through would be best. 2 sets of speaker cables would require either manually changing them when you changed amps, or hooking up a switch box of some sort. You shouldnt hook up 2 amps to one set of speakers at the same time.

I have a similar setup and can vouch for the HT passthrough option. I am using a Musical Fidelity integrated and an Arcam AVR200. The pass through works perfectly.

does your musical fidelty have a pass through button, when you push it, you have automatic unity gain? my chord integrated does not have this feature. would i use one of the sections of my chord, say the video output and run interconnects to the arcam? how would i equalize the volume?

Ah...you have choices to make then. I assumed you had the HT passthrough. I limited my search to integrateds with this feature in order to eliminate having to match volume levels of two amplifiers (yes, the MF has an HT bypass). Prior to my MF I was using an old Audiolab 8000A integrated (no HT bypass) with a Yamaha HT receiver. Yes, you can get it to work with acceptable results...take your amp out on the Arcam into one of the inputs on your Chord (other than phono of course...maybe you should see if one input is close one signal strength needed to that which the Arcam outputs). The trouble is that you will have to set the volume levels close enough to get a balanced result. Purest might poo poo this idea but who cares when it comes to movies? It will be plenty close enough and you woun't ever know the differnce...main speakers are effect speakers in an HT system anyway...your center channel is the real workhorse unless you sellect a mode where the mains are equal to it or are driven in place of the center channel. But in either case you will be fine. I would say this is a better option than running two sets of wires, but you will not have the remote controll volume adjustability that all of us love with movies.

thanks, i will give this solution a try...

You can do what I do, run the LT/RT mains outs from the HT processor (or receiver in your case) to one of the inputs on the integrated. Now select that input, and turn the volume control in integrated to a readily-remembered setting. I and many others I have talked to use 12 o'clock. Now calibrate your processor or receiver. When listening to music, dont even turn on the Arcam. When watching movies, select the input on the integrated, turn the volume to 12 o'clock, and you are ready to go. You can use the volume control on the Arcam as usual.
John

excellent, i would rather try this than buy another pricey set of speaker cables...
Dan

just did the pass through -- it works great. much better sound coming from the mains using the chord as the amp instead of the arcam...

Great it worked well for you. I have been doing this for over a year now, and have been extremely satisfied.