surround processor?

An economical way to give surround sound a try is to get the old Dynaco Quadaptor. You hook it up to your power amp's binding posts, and it creates a left minus right (L - R) signal, which is sent to a rear channel amp and speakers. The L - R signal simulates the random phase information contained in recordings made in large spaces (cathedrals, music halls, auditoriums, etc.), primarily in recordings of large ensembles (orchestras, choirs). In addition, some such recordings already contain out-of-phase information.

The Angstrom 200 I mentioned earlier contains L - R circuitry---along with a delay, as well as more sophisticated processing. The 200 also contains a decent DAC and analogue pre-amp. All from the fertile mind of Mike Moffat, and built like a tank (in the "horrible" State of California ;-) .

I have separate audio and video systems (the main speakers are shared and I just swap the speaker cables from one power amp to another).

I have a fairly decent Marantz AV preamp and have listened to stereo through it. It is pretty decent but it still isn't up to what my stereo only system can put through the same speakers.

Assess what your priorities are and go with your ears.

     For general principles, stay away from Lexicon.  Thy buy other stuff and re-box it for a much higher price:  Literally!   They took a $500 OPPO and put the whole thing, cabinet and all, into a pretty aluminum case, then charged $2500 for it.

I use a McIntosh MX123 pre-amp / surround processor with a BAT VK6200 amplifier. The processor selects the outputs according to the source and number of channels input. When I watch movies it’s surround sound, when I listen to music the system works in stereo. The BAT amplifier is really six, 180 watt, individual, independent, single-channel amplifiers in a card cage chassis. But, I’m satisfied with a mid-fi system. If you don’t need to play the extreme end of the audio world games, you can find a quite satisfying middle ground that will work for both video and music without needing separate systems. I know, on this website it’s total heresy...but someone had to inject a bit of sanity into the all-or-nothing approach to audio...

buckhorn_cortez that seems like a terrific system.

I just don't understand why all multi channel systems have been strangely lumped together and classified as crap. Persoanlly I believe they can be fantastic when setup correctly and it is indeed the statement that is crap.

How do you find the Audyssey? Mine sounds best when I limit correction to below 500Hz on all channels.