More critical? Amp or Signal Processor Pre-amp

Invest your money into a 5 channel amp (or amps). The quality of the signal on digital dolby is not as good as the compact disk. Also the standard for future DVD has not yet been decided on by the manufactures.(or, for that matter; the dvd-audio only standard is at least a year off.) The amp you buy now can be used with any future format.

I suggest a really nice preamp like the Classe' SSP25 ($2600 street price) and the Classe' CAV75 6x75w amp which can be bridged if you want to add another amp down the road. As I understand it, DVD-audio will be a decoding function of the player.

Agree with "Strobl", as standards and technologies change in the digital front-end domain, the amplification scene will not change greatly. And there's no substitute for raw WATTs, more volume will always win over slightly lower distortion that is inaudible in any case. Go solid state, minimum 100 WPC x 5 + .1 add a self-amplified subwoofer.