Hey everybody... thanks for the responses. This forum is so cool! I went into this upgrade rather ignorant, but I have learned a lot here.

First... I called Outlaw tech support this morning and talked to a very knowledgeable guy (Scott?... can't recall for sure). He agreed that most A/V receivers do degrade the sound from analog sources because the pre-amp converts it to digital and then back again. He had no real solution and suggested what Gonk did... that I might be happier to have separate setups for music and home theater.

However, the more I listen to the 1050, the better it is sounding. The main amplifier sounds pretty good to me and has plenty of power for my needs, and actually the pre-amp seems decent too when I use a digital connection from my DVD. Apparently, it's the additional digital conversion for analog sources that is giving me "fits" So I'm gonna head over to Radio Shack, see if I can find a simple two-channel switcher, and use that to connect my analog components to the 1050's direct inputs. I will still lose the receiver's bass management... but I think I can get around that by connecting my subwoofer to the 1050's pre-amp outs, and using the sub's cross-over.

Wish me luck! And thanks once again to everybody for your help.

David_W, can you use your old receiver to do the switching, i.e., does it have pre-amp outs?