Processor less Home theater?

[Dlite]

I have been toying with the idea of removing my old EAD Theatermaster signature from my Home Theater set up, and using my main 2 channel pre amp (Gryphon belcanto) and 2 passive pre amps to handle the 5 channels. I would use my Denon 2900 do to all the processing etc. There will obviously be a little fiddling with volumes, especially when I first set up, but can anyone see any big problems with this, has anyone tried a home theater setup without a dedicated processor before.

I just feel i should be able to get a cleaner signal and better sound and spend the money I would save on a processor and future upgrades on other equipment.

Your thoughts people.... thanks in advance.

[purplepeople]

I currently use the 6-ch output of my DVD player directly into a mixing board and to a mix of active monitors, sub and amp-ed rear channels. It is quite clean.

ensen.

[junior77blue]

Well, in my opinion the denon 2900 built in decoding will never be as good as a dedicated processor. So, even though you have the great 2 channel preamps your decoding will limit you.

Additionally, volume control will have to be dialed in each time...unless you can bypass the volume on the preamps...your system will be completley un-user friendly. Will it work...yes...is it a good alternative...not really.

I have the best of both worlds...a dedicated 2 channel for stereo and a ht preamp/processor for HT. The 2 channel preamp has a processor bypass input. So, volume matching is done by the ht preamp.