Soooo - despite all my expectations (and public musings) I will be returning the Rotel. I figured that if I could find a used 2 channel pre with HT passthrough for around $600, I would have a system that significantly bested the Rotel in both Home Theater and music for another couple hundred bucks. Plus if I wanted to have seperate rooms later for HT and music, the sytem could be more easily split up.
Oh my gawd! Who would have thought that Larry and I, in the end, would agree almost totally. I still prefer the 950 to the Rotel for music(I prefer dry/detailed versus warm/veiled)but like you I want more. This weekend I am checking out the Musical Fidelity A3cr and an Audible Illusions refurbed 3A preamp. I have also tried an ASL tubed unit(no much like) and an Adcom 750(passive mode very nice). From reviews that I've read, my guess is that you'd like the Musical Fidelity very much. However, even used units cost more than $600. One other idea for you is to buy a Sony P9K preamp for use with your 2 channel sources. As long as you only have 2 sources, it would work very nicely. Tonally, it is slightly warmer than the 950, but still extremely neutral.
IMO, I'd put the performance of the 950/P9K/ICBM trio,(950 for movies, P9K for music)up against the Anthem AVM-20 any day. Cost wise it is no comparison as the trio only costs $1500 or so.
Good Luck with your search and let us know what you end up getting.
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Take Care,
merc
[This message has been edited by merc (edited July 16, 2002).]
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