I have an old Dolby ProLogic surround system I would like to upgrade to use with my HD and Blu Ray. The system I have consists of Bose 901 (please hold the bashing) front L&R channel, Polk center channel and small Bose (101?) rear channels. My tuner is a Yamaha RX-V870 - which does not support a subwoofer but provides the pre-in and pre-out for the Bose 901 equalizer. All bought in 1994 when this new fad called home theater wasn't a big priority for me. For budget reasons I would like to re-use my existing speakers. I am having a hard time finding a surround receiver with the pre-out and pre-in but there seems to be some available with a pre-out only. I'm thinking I could take the pre-out from a new receiver, go to the equalizer and then go from the equalizer to the pre-in on my old receiver to drive the Bose 901 front channels. The rest of the system, including a new sub would be driven by the new receiver (Yamaha RX-V1065?). Any body see any reason why this might not work? Is the volume control between the pre-out and pre-in? If so, I can see there could be problems keeping the volume in the front channels at the right level.
What you are planning should work perfectly, except that you will probably need to turn the power on to both units to run things, and shut both off separately. However, you can get something to take care of that issue:
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Strip-SCG3-Autoswitching-Technology/dp/B000P1QJXQ/ref=pd_cp_hi_1
I have three of these that I am using, and they work perfectly. You simply plug the new receiver into the control outlet, and plug the old receiver into one of the switched outlets. Turn the power on to both, and then use the power switch for the new receiver to turn the power on and off to both. One may need to set the sensitivity control on it.
I use one of these to shut off power to periphery devices for my computer, like separate powered speakers and etc.
You may need to concern yourself about the front channel volume, depending upon how your old receiver is set up (the input could be after the volume control, or it could be that the input is before the volume control; see your manual, though it should work regardless). If it is before the volume control (go ahead and set the volume control at this point regardless), what I recommend is setting the volume control on the receiver driving the front speakers at a moderate level (perhaps 1/3 volume) for setup, and, since any decent modern surround will automatically set the levels for you, it should work fine. If the automatic setting on the new receiver puts the front channels much higher than the others, then I recommend turning up the volume on the old unit a little, and redoing the automatic setup on the new unit. If the automatic setting on the new receiver puts the front channels much lower than the other channels, then I recommend turning down the volume on the old unit a little, and redoing the automatic setup on the new unit. Once it is set up, never touch the volume control on the old unit again. So, what you want to do is place it somewhere where it gets adequate ventilation, but where no one is likely to accidentally adjust the volume on it. But if someone does, or you suspect that someone has, then simply redo the automatic setup as before.
