What do I need?

I want HT surround sound for 2001. And for other wonderful composers whose music was used in stereo movies.

@soix I'm doing that with the 2 rear channels for my home theatre. I Bluetooth the rear channels to a Denon integrated amp.  I know where to set the volume on the Denon.  It serves no other purpose other than driving the rear channels, so I just leave it there.  The Denon was sitting unused, so I used it. 

I know Bluetooth isn't ideal, but I bought a good Bluetooth receiver and transmitter with low latency. This worked better than running speaker wires from the front of the room to the back.  No place to hide wires. 

If your 2-channel preamp does NOT have a HT bypass feature, I suspect your only option is to directly wire your 2-channel speakers like the rest of the surround speakers from your surround-preamp-processor.  

@kennyc That’s not true.  Any unused line-level input on the stereo pre can work very easily — I did it this way for years. 

So, pick yourself up by your pamper straps & don’t be so sensitive.

seriously?

You respond after 6 days, you claim you respond on day 2 and you have this attitude? Wow...

Sorry OP, I disagree, feedback essential so that we know that we aren’t wasting our time trying to help you.  You still haven’t answered “does your preamp have a HT pass through?”.

In laymans terms for a surround system you’ll need something to split the signal into channels (preamp-processor), provide amplification to each channel, followed by a speaker per channel.  A HT (home theatre) pass through on a 2-channel preamp allows use of your 2-channel speakers in your surround setup.

If your 2-channel preamp does NOT have a HT bypass feature, I suspect your only option is to directly wire your 2-channel speakers like the rest of the surround speakers from your surround-preamp-processor.  

For what it’s worth, I read each response a couple times over a day or two & compare it to the others. I really do appreciate all the responses. I really do. I usually wait till the next great slows down & thank everyone. I see other people do this all the time. So, pick yourself up by your pamper straps & don’t be so sensitive.

Look into Anthem Audio. 

N

"Optimal" as noted would be 'bare bones' in the audio segment 'round here, 
@surfmuz ...  and since the AV/HT is also covered by the necessary components to potentially overdo the end product...

And agreed, the field has been plowed to bedrock many X times, so...

Success on both fronts asks for a subtle approach as to the marriage of same, in spaces that can uncooperative in too many ways....

Been doing AV/HT before the HT name went 'household necessity' to the masses; so have been there too many times; managed to save some sort of sanity....even if some will disagree with that.... ;)

Play loud and often, J

This topic discussed many times before. The best way is to separate home theater system from the audio system, so optimal way would be to have home theater receiver connect to own speakers. 

Since ours has to exist in the same space, one just has to adapt ones' mains to handle both with aplomb....make judicious selections of how and what to connect, and it can (and does) work....

🤷‍♂️  Mho, music is basically controlled noises....much like a weed is a plant you don't want

There

or

Hear ;)

@ghdprentice is correct, separate HT and audio systems is best. You need different gear to reproduce music vs explosions.

Hello tochsii!  Emotiva makes a small AV/surround sound processor. If can do a 7.1 system. It sounds very fine indeed and is the heart of my Living Room system. It handles phono cartridges also; The model is MC-700. You can save some $$ by buying a "factory refurbished" one, if available. You will also need at least a five channel (stereo front and rear + center channel) power amp. Six channels if you use a passive subwoofer. Of course you'll need rear channel speakers and a center channel speaker. These are not difficult to build. Try DIYing  them. If you want to go 7.1 yoou'll need two more power amp channels and a set of side speakers. I have run such a system, but don't think the improvement is worth the complictions and cost. 5.1 is good enough for me. Home Theater enthusiasts are up to 13.2 systems. You have been warned! Enjoy the music.   

@tochsii 

Vinylshadow is right. Look for a used Classe SSP 800 av preamp surround processor in used markets. The SSP 800 originally retailed for $9500 but it’s been discontinued since 2017 and nowadays a used one can be had for around $2k. The Classe also works as a high end stereo pre as well and it sounds very very good in two channel for music. I would say in two channel sound quality wise the Classe SSP 800 is comparable to high end stereo preamps costing around $5k to $6k. Classe put priority and optimized the SSP 800 for music (two channel). 
What’s your stereo preamp? 
 

I happen to have the Classe SSP 800 up for sale on US AudioMart under caphill. Contact me on US AudioMart if you are interested. I’m selling it for $2k and is in mint condition and I have all original accessories : remote, packaging / box, user manual, etc. 

@tochsii 

What is the point of asking a question, if you aren't going to respond to the answers?

You wouldn't do this in a face to face conversation, so please respect the fact that the responses are offered to try and help you.

I have a denon avr with 15 channel s these days they have atmosphere witch puts front high middle high and rear high .this is so when things in the movies rly overhead they go from front to back..some music is now in atmos.ir your preamp has home theater pass through it allows the two front channels to be driven by your current amp.home theater can go from mild like stuff at best buy or separate home theater with separate multichannel processors with 30 separate monoamps for 15 channels.this is why mcintosh made the mi 502 class d amp for home theater.it does sound good in stero as well. You might have to read some home theater articles..personally I like my denon avr with 15 channels.its hard to go back to the theater.enjoy your search.and the music.

Look into buying a used Classe SSP-800 AV processor. It has an LFE out for a sub and you're good to go. Does your preamp have Home Cinema Pass through? 

Get a good sub and run it either off pre outs or speaker level, whichever you system dictates and be done. 
 

I have been running 2.1 so to speak for 20 years in various systems and it has always sounded great. 

If you’re gonna now have additional speakers for HT the cheapest/easiest thing would be to get an A/V receiver with front L/R pre outs that you can feed to your stereo preamp and power the other speakers.  If your stereo pre doesn’t have a HT bypass this can still work very easily using any unused line level input on the preamp, which I can elaborate on if needed.  

@tochsii You can power a home theater with 2 channels just fine. You will not get any surround functions, but you can't miss what you never had. 

What is your amp and preamp?  Does your preamp have a home theater pass-through?  A pass-through will take the front two channels from a surround processor and deliver it to your two channel amp without affecting the signal (the volume is controlled by the surround processor/receiver).  I do this by using a Onkyo receiver as a surround processor (my preamp has a home theater input).  The Onkyo also has amplifiers for the center and rears, but I'm sending those channels to separate amps.

A home theater requires a surround processor AVP)… which takes input signals from different sources like BluRay, Cable box, Amazon Cube, Apple TV and splits them into different channels (basically a multichannel preamp and decoder). This signal is then fed into a multichannel amp. There are also AVP that contain seven or more channel amplifiers. Most folks (non-fanatic) use these. They do not sound as good as audio only components, but since video distracts you the sound quality is not as critical.

i have separate AV and audio systems (preferred). My home theater has a surround processor and a separate five channel amp. You can see my systems under my user ID in virtual systems.