surround processor?

I suspect the impact digital processing in the next decade or so will make multichannel considerably more of a 'player' to the SOTA enthusiast....not HT as we experience it, but more 'immersive'; the club in your space, concert hall acoustics replicated, the outdoor 'indoors'...

Keep listening, and we'll hear what happens....;)

It is a matter of simple logic to prove a surround system will never outperform stereo. Fact: better components cost more. Fact: no one has infinite money. Therefore, for however much money you have it will buy better components the fewer of them there are to buy.

Surround components never can be anything but equal to stereo, for the simple fact whatever technology is used in surround can be used in stereo- but not the other way around.

So it does not matter whether you have $5k or $50k, or $500k- or $5M. Divided into two speakers buys better sounding speakers than divided into 5.1 or 7.2 or whatever. Same for amps, cables, everything.

Quality rules. Surround sucks. Simple as that.

The most musical fidelit amplifiers has a pass through that's the best option. Intergrated with the Denon 3700.

Nice try. But I still have to give the nod to all your base are belong to us.

My point is that one can assemble a 2-channel setup of choice and if that setup includes a preamp with a by-pass input, it can also serve as the front LR for a surround setup without doing harm to stereo performance. I assembled a stereo setup comprised of an Ayre QX-5 Twenty Roon endpoint, Ayre DX-5 DSD disc player, Ayre P-5xe phonostage, Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp, and VX-5 Twenty amp using balanced connections. Only later did I add balanced input from a Bryston SP3 processor. I dispute the contention that just connecting the SP3 to the KX-5 harms stereo quality. I don’t perceive any degradation, and I’ve done a lot of listening in a psychoacoutics lab. To address another objection, if one is inclined to allocate all available funds to a stereo setup, then obviously anything that diverts funds reduces funds available for stereo. I’m not so inclined.