When it comes to amps I like to get the largest I can afford, as far as sound quality between brands it differs only a small amount, althouh I can notice a difference between types of amplifiers, like tube vs Solid, and class D vs class T, ect.. I have a little topping tripath that sounds awesome, it seems to reproduce the highs cleaner and crisper than the class a/b amps I compare it against...
But anyway, a good all around amp is A/B, cost, power, reliability IMO its the best of all worlds...
My favorite is the Emotiva XPA2, as far as a preamp goes, I still have NO idea what you are going for Home theater or music only, that still seems to be a huge mystery...
How many speakers did you buy 2, 3, 5 not including the sub woofer? and what are you hooking them up to? An Ipod, cable box, dvd player, cd player, turntable, what?
If this is going to be a music 2.1 system and you are just running an Ipod to it I would buy the xpa2, the xda2 Dac, and a Pure i20 ipod dock connected with a digital cable from Emotiva. This is the cleanest sound I have found from an ipod, iphone, or ipad... I use my ipad on the purdock and it sounds fantastic, I have noticed material in songs I have heard a thousand times that I never heard before.... I played sinead o'connors silent night on the system and then on my all in one, and the difference is so noticeable, you can hear her breaths and her feet on the floor when she moves...
