The pre-pro as the centre of life, the universe, and everything.

That pretty much sums up my expectations.

In my main HT I currently have eleven (11) source A/V components connected in some way, shape, or form, to my Onkyo 886, including phono (MM), cassette, S-VHS VCR, Hi-8 VCR, two LD players, HD Cable PVR, DVD recorder, CD/DVD-V/SACD player, CD/DVD-V/A/SACD player, and a Blu-ray player. And I'm not counting the 886's tuner section as a source.

If it's HDMI-equipped I could probably handle one or two more source components.

Being able to apply today's surround modes to yesterday's recordings is a big plus for me.

My Blu-ray player is connected to my home network via ethernet cable and since my home server and main router are very close by, running another cable to a future pre/pro to tap into that content and the internet is not an issue.

As you can see I tend to not discard formats, still use all of them from time-to-time, and expect that any future pre/pro give me as much, if not more, flexibility than what I currently have. If that costs me a little bit more, I'm willing to pay.

Finally as I was typing this I wandered over to my cassette collection (~180 tapes, most of them dubbed from LPs using very good gear for its day) and scanned through it. Probably 25% of that content I don't have anywhere else in my collection. So I pulled out a tape of The Garfield Band that I made in 1978, popped it into the Nakamichi, set the proper EQ and engaged Dolby B NR and am now really enjoying some tunes that I've not listened to in probably three decades! And yes, that tape still sounds great! I took time away from this message to listen to several tracks using Zone 2 and a single stereo amp / pair of speakers. Then I ran it through the whole system with PLIIx applied. Wow!

That's what I meant by my opening sentence.