I'm from the seperate 2 ch + 3 ch amp school. I'd recommend spending more on the 2 channel than the 3, if you listen to mostly music. If you're mostly movies, a 5 channel amp would probably do. I was running a Threshold T400 stereo amp for my mains, and an Acurus 200X3 for surrounds. 80% of my listening was 2 channel, and I feel that when watching movies, you're visually distracted so you can get by with a less expensive amp. For surround processor, I'd recommend an Aragon Sounstage. I've seen them closing out at internet prices of $1500-$1900, brand new. It was a $4K processor, that has a 2 channel and 6 channel analog passthrough. It can't be beat for what it's selling for at closeout prices, if you can find one. Of the current ones, I think the Anthem AVM-20 would do quite nicely, but will cost you another $1K. It won't sound better than the Soundstage, but it does offer 7.1 instead of 5.1, if you want to go that direction. A friend of mine has a system with an Aragon Soundstage, Aragon 8008BB stereo amp and an Acurus A200X3 surround amp. He gets very nice sound from this setup.
Good Luck
John
Good Luck
John