I get "surround sound" using my vinyl thru a AVA T8, the 170EX and an old pair of Dynaco A25XL's. Some 2 channel vinyl is loaded with surround material. Just have to have the right stuff to get it to the speakers.
W 
See, that's just it...the more you dial in your system, and the more you do to improve the quality, the less it feels like just two speakers. I got the DeVores and they sounded great. I upgraded my amp and they sounded better. I just treated my room and it took another few steps forward (big steps). I put a Transcendence 8 in here next, I just don't know if I need to fart around with multi-channel anymore...
When Frank says he just runs some analog interconnects from his cable box to his gear and the Salks and it sounds phenomenal, I believe him 100%! When I went to audition the DeVores for the first time, it was a near-ideal listening room with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Out of curiosity, I asked my dealer to put on a DVD just so I could hear how the speakers performed with a movie soundtrack. Well he doesn't have surround sound, just a ridiculous 2-channel rig...but to hear Lord of the Rings over that kind of system was pretty amazing. Now I'm certainly not going to run out and buy some $40k Oasis monoblock amps or a $30k preamp. But I'm a preamp and a better source away from having a pretty solid 2-channel rig, and I would bet I can get pretty close to how things sounded when I heard LOTR.
I guess the only real way to figure this out for myself would be to just get the preamp in the chain and see how it sounds.
