I have 9 v2 SE's fronts, 9 v1, for the other 5. The best!! VMPS RM 30's. Work great together. Weak link is my Rotel 1068 pre/pro- even though it's decent.
I have just looked at the new Marrantz 8003, about to become available. That unit defines the feature set for a modern pre/pro, in some ways similar features with Integra 9.8. It will street between 2K and 2500. I don't know if it will sound great, but if it does, it will be the one in that price range to beat. I tried and was not impressed with the Cary 11, it sounded better than the Rotel (more slam, better dynamics, clarity, bass integration), but sounded edgy and unnatural in my room, and the features , including the EQ, were finicky to say the least.
If NuForce offers something similar to the upcoming Marantz, and emphasizes SQ, NuForce is always my first choice, I just think they have the sound right and some of the best technology. The amps are revealing and beautiful without being analytical. I tried a lot of amps, nothing else came close. I'd look for the same in the NuForce preamp. I agree with Jason to focus on the 2K to 2500 range.
I also agree with others who have said here that NF should go with Cary's philosophy of focusing on sound - NF's strength. I don't really care about the Video processing - I go directly from DVD player to TV any way.
So key features: HDMI 1.3a for music playback, with passthrough, HD tuner, an EQ program and quality mic., very high quality audio processing for redbook, SACD, DVD-A, Dolby, DTS, etc processing, including HD master etc, great bass management with small increments of adjustment, good delay set up, SACD playback via HDMI, DVD-A playback via HDMI, and most of all, a really good analogue section (I have an external DAC), are key components for me. It's mostly about the sound quality for NuForce customers and we want to use this unit to take advantage of all the sound formats. If the 2 channel SQ is so good you don't need a separate 2 channel preamp, that would justify a 2500 or higher price tag.
(PS: Many have gone with the P9 for 2 channel greatness, and I understand that is an amazing, amazing piece. With that, I'd love to see P9 quality with Parasound 2100 feature set for an HT bypass two channel pre)
My two cents, thanks for considering these ideas. Pete