AV pre-amps

Here's a question for you chaps, particularly if you have expereince of decent AV pre-amps.

With the imminent and permanent removal of "she who must be argued with", not only will I have a barrier to listening at loud volumes taken away, but also the permanent demise of the cheapy AV system that I used to use.

On a temporary basis my DVD player is running directly into the stereo system. On films with music in, it's actually rather good, sounding a good deal better than a 5.1 system. However, get to that space bombardment of the alient hordes, and I do miss the rear effects and sub.

A little while ago I heard a Linn movie classik running with Ninka and Tukan speakers, and was quite astounded at how much better it sounded than my cheapy Marantz AV amp (running the centre and rears directly, and via pre-out to the stereo).
The implications were that the processing and pre-amp section within the Classik were massively better than the Marantz SR4300.

That does make me think that adding something like a Linn 5103 av pre-amp with an LK100 for rear effects would work rather well in conjunction with my existing stereo.
Any thoughts on the above idea? I know the LK100s are quite cheap and I'm assuming a 5103 won't break the bank. More importantly, I'd expect the 5103 to outperform a Classik and therefore work well between my DVD player and stereo system.

 

I use my Rega amps for Hi Fi, but plumbed in, is a Naim AV2, damn fine processor !

Hi Fi (Rega) is as you would expect.

For AV (AV2), The centre pre outs go to an RB991 as do the rears. For the fronts, the AV2 preouts are connected to a line level input on the Rega pre, thus using my standard power amps. When in use select the dedicated line level input,and wack the vol pot up to nearly full and away you go.

As you can tell this does not interupt my Hi Fi at all.

As for AV it is fine, until you put on a concert disk, which is when you can hear the slight timing difference between the centre and fronts

 

That Linn with amps (or any other processor/amp combinations) would to be miles better both for music and movies.