Receiver as preamp.

[Darenwh]

Yes. See the owner's manuals for details.
Yes.
No. The Marantz would act as the pre amp, and you would control things with the Marantz remote.

The Rotel amp section is rated at 75 wpc, and the Marantz is rated at 125 wpc. I'm not sure you would hear any audible benefit from using the less powerful Rotel to substitute for the more powerful Marantz amp section. You'll have to try it both ways to satisfy yourself.

Be aware that the Rotel rating of 75 WPC may be continuous while the Marantz 125 WPC may be peak. Actual continuous on the Marantz may be less than on the Rotel...

 

[Swerd]

Be aware that the Rotel rating of 75 WPC may be continuous while the Marantz 125 WPC may be peak. Actual continuous on the Marantz may be less than on the Rotel...

Both are or were sold in the USA. As a result, both were rated by the continuous method as defined by the Federal Trade Commission. This method specifies power be measured:

• After a defined warm up period
• Continuous RMS power over a defined time frame
  
• When two channels driven, driving 8 ohm loads
  
• Over the full audio range of 20-20,000 Hz
• With total harmonic distortion (THD) stated as a %, such as 0.1%.

The FTC requires that these be stated when two channels are driven even if the receiver is an AVR with more than two. Marantz did just that, but Rotel's rating was done when all five channels were driven.

Marantz 125 wpc at 0.08% THD (2 channels driven)
Rotel 75 wpc at 0.09% THD (5 channels driven)

Unless Marantz provides the power rating with 5 channels, or Rotel provides the power rating with 2 channels, these numbers should not be directly compared.

 

[lovinthehd]

You can see the S&V bench test for the Marantz for more info on power with 5 and 7 channels driven.

 

[Swerd]

You can see the S&V bench test for the Marantz for more info on power with 5 and 7 channels driven.

Thanks, that answers my previous question.

Marantz 101 wpc at 0.1% THD (5 channels driven at 8 ohms)
Rotel 75 wpc at 0.09% THD (5 channels driven at 8 ohms)

Under what looks like essentially the same conditions, the Marantz AVR still is more powerful than the Rotel.