Yes- AV Bypass mode allowing integration of a Naim amp to handle ‘front left and right’ duties for a surround sound setup; excellent! (noticable uptick in sound quality)
…and then - power amping the rest of the channels also using Naim power amps?
Sure thing- very doable…
I suppose I have been using Rotel power amps for many decades doing exactly this… .(with my ‘nicer’ two channel amp handling front MAINS)**
I’m not sure what I am missing in the original post- this is standard cinema affair for decades.
The nicest ‘processor’ I own is a Proceed AVP2, and whilst I am happy using it as a 2 channel preamp for high quality STEREO sound in the den,… I have at times rigged a bunch of outboard power amps to it and done the whole 5.1 surround.
I’ve used an Outlaw 990 and other dedicated ‘preamp processors’ and find that any half decent ‘processor’ (sans amplification) blows away the same unit ‘as an integrated’.
I’d take that a step further -
having two ‘near identical’ Onkyo boxes about a decade dated, one being an DHC80.1 and the other a DTR70.4 (eek model names from the top of my head- excuse me I am sitting riverside in the five am hour waiting for the sun to rise as I write this)(photography as a hobby)…
between the two Integras/Onkyos’ the dedicated processor smashes the quality from the ‘integrated’ (even using ALL outboard power amplification), and the older processor is only XT not ‘XT32’ reequalisation… (xt32 can mix multiple subs through more bands and is a noticable step up in room re-eq)
A dedicated processor just beats out using an all in one ‘as a processor’.
I presently use an Anthem surround amp, as they do a nice room reequalisation process (ARC), and the Naim with AV Bypass makes sense…
beyond that- unless using a ‘big ticket price’ processor, or one from a bygone era, like the aforementioned Proceed AVP2, probably not worth running five plus channels of Naim amplification…
Majority of modern ‘integrated’ AV boxes are pretty average in quality, even if their spec sheets tout all the latest formats etc.
I know I would have needed to buy at least five models up the Yamaha lineup to get a fairly entry level ‘mid tier’ range product to have not stepped MASSIVELY back in sound quality vs what I typically go with…
I have had flagship surround processors (and outboard processors) going back to the early nineties (and more mainstream products prior)…
A flagship integrated surround receiver can double as a ‘processor’, but to my experience they pale in comparison to the quality found in seperates and ‘dedicated’ parts.
I’d listen to ‘lossy’ dolby digital via that ancient Proceed AVP2 before I’d listen to anything from the last decade…
proper kit renders lowly dolby digital as sounding better than many amps doing ‘modern lossless formats’.
the truth is of course somewhere in between…
having bought more flagship surround amps second hand than I own 4KUHD discs (and I have to keep them filed in draws, due to owning many well selected recordings!!), I have toyed with many of the surround amp products from the last two decades…
I’d take a flagship processor, pre ‘4k HDR’, that does XT32 (or better) room re-eq, as the best bang to buck…
playing with Atmos stuff, the cheapest affordable was the Anthem but Lyndorf and ‘others’ have raised the bar further…
A modern box that is capable of Atmos and has all the multichannel preouts (and can be upgraded external amplification), will sound better with outboard amps, but the ceiling on sound quality is set pretty low.
(when a few hundred dollars on a processor and buying pre 4k HDR@60 4/4/4 second hand part, will net massivley better sound for a lot less coin outlay (leaves more coin for better amps/speakers etc)).
a half decent video source will have multiple outputs (video and audio via seperate HDMI cables)… and can easily fire off lossless multichannel sound to the processor AND give the HDR 4K feed direct to the screen…
succinctly: (again, next to a river, watching sun rise,… writing this on a phone)
Integrated surround amp vs processor? Processor is MUCH better… (even when running all channels from outboard amps)
Modern amps are getting pretty horrible quality (too much to include whilst the price has had to keep coming down)…
unless you are buying boutique or ‘very high up the lineup’; probably better with slightly aged FLAGSHIP kit, and then working around the limitations (eg a source player with two outputs can mitigate a surround amp not handshaking with 4K HDR @ 60 frames per second etc)
The quality of the room re-eq is almost as important as the quality of product.
flagship AV integrated can be ‘bitten at’ with a decade old processor and some power amps to boot…
Some prefer extra speakers overhead in a few handfuls of titles… others prefer EVERY DISC and MEDIA sounding fantastic using only 7-11 speakers total (still enough to simulate great surround sound)
