So I guess this means you really want an outboard pre-amp for 2 channel audio, right?

I think this will be easier to do than getting an upgradeable receiver. The major reason I got an SP 1.7 was because the receiver manufacturers didn’t offer upgrades. Well-they did, sorta. Either you could get software upgrades (only Onkyo at the time) or they SAID they would offer a hardware upgrade (Denon - at the time). Denon did offer a hardware upgrade on the 5800. Unfortunately it was 1 year after the initial release (far too soon for me to consider upgrading), the upgrade was a limited time offer (six months, I think, but not sure) and then it was over. Period. No more upgrades. You wanna upgrade, buy a new model.
I decided to buy an SP 1.7 so I could upgrade whenever I was ready to. I personally don’t miss any of the bells and whistles because I ended up never using em. So please be careful about upgrades when choosing your receiver. If you choose a processor in place of a receiver, I believe many manufacturers offer upgrade plans for those (it seems to be the norm). Good luck!
