The only way for an integrated amp to work alongside an AVR is if it has an HT bypass, but I can't have a sub work for both set-ups simultaneously unless I have a sub with dual inputs or an integrated amp with bass management.
Yeah pretty much, although as FlyingHigh rightly says any integrated amp can do too, it’s just that you have to set the volume each time to the same point on the integrated every time you need it to do Left and Right for AVR duties.
So not the end of the world, but tbh most amps you probably want to be setting your sights on will have HT bypass anyway.
AVR wise, any recent X3x00 series Denon is always a good option. Just note that they tend to run quite hot though so definitely consider the space you intend to put it, i.e good clearance above needed. I had a Marantz SR6012 which is essentially a Denon X3xxx something (3400 maybe?) and that thing ran insanely hot - cooked itself basically!! I’ve recently replaced it (because I had to, when I say cooked itself it did!) with a Yamaha RX-A4A, and it’s great tbh. It run cool, sounds good, isn’t crazy money, so worth a look if not wanting more than 7.1.
For 2ch integrated, you’ll get tons of recommendations and there’s a ton of interesting amps I’d love to try or buy for looks alone like the high end Yamaha’s or Technics SU-G700M2 both with VU meters! Plus on the KEF forums on facebook, many people swear by the Hegel and KEF pairing, noting that it’s more often than not Hegel used in KEF demos at trade shows.
I think the paring of Audiolab and KEF has been great for me in my setups, so depending on budget perhaps a 9000A (pretty sure I saw an ex-dem online the other day for ÂŁ1600).
I’ve aligned myself to the analog side for 2ch, so haven’t gone down the room correction DSP amp like a Lyngdorf for 2ch - but really that’s only viable due to having dual input subs (Arendal 1723 1S). A dual input sub definitely gives you greater flexibility in terms of how you could build out the 2ch side of things, whereas a single input sub is going to push you down the room correction DSP path for an integrated, otherwise ballache to share the sub between both half’s of the setups.
As for dual input subs then BK or REL subs offer low and high level inputs, with low level being the LFE connection to AVR, and high level connects to the 2ch integrated speaker terminals. And as mentioned the Arendal 1723 subs have dual low level input, these subs also have DSP onboard so you can really get good integration and a corrected response for the sub in the 2ch setup. AVR’s all come with room correction like Audyssey etc, so sub integration for that is never a problem, but with 2ch getting a sub just right... sometimes on board PEQ on the sub can be a blessing.
Sticking with a single input sub pushes you IMO more down the road of having an integrated amp with DSP, otherwise it’s just not easy to facilitate sharing them. And on this path IMO I’d probably be looking at Lyngdorf ahead of NAD, simply because I read of bugs on NAD far more often. The other amp you don’t hear much about but looks very interesting, is the Anthem STR Integrated (though it ain’t cheap!).