[bart]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Bart....this is an interesting post. I think I get the concept....sort of. At the very least I retain my McIntosh MC2125 amplifier for the fronts-and the receiver powers the centers and rears. But I'm a little fuzzy on what becomes of my existing McIntosh MX117 Tuner/preamp. And, I'm not sure what you mean does the system have a "bypass". I've been a bit confused by some of the jargon in that area-such as "bypass, ht bypass", etc. I think the answer to you question in my case, is "no".

Let's keep talking...this may go somewhere, this "hybrid" approach.

Pete, I'm not a McIntosh specialist.
But if your MX117 has an input that can serve as a "pass-through" (meaning the signal isn't changed), you connect the left and right channel of the receiver with that input.
That way your preamp only serves as a "wire" between the receiver and the McIntosh power amp.
For all stereo duties, it remains in action.

We have a hybrid system in our living room.
I especially asked the designer of my tube amps to provide a "bypass" function.
We do listen quite a lot in surround.
Movies, concerts, multi-channel music: the 3 additional channels are added value in my opinion.