Using stereo amp in conjunction with AV amp

cmondetown

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Hi all!
I am a very occasional poster but would welcome your advice.
I have a Denon avc-1sr which is an old but undeniably fantastic home cinema amp. For literally years now I have left my old Arcam 8R and 8P amps on the stand, disconnected because I didn't realise I might be able to use the stereo and surround amps together.
From doing a bit of research it looks like it would be possible to connect the Arcam 8R (? and 8P) to the pre-outs of the Denon to allow me to have stereo for music and 5.1 for home cinema.

Three questions then
1. Does this mean that I would have to have the Arcam's on when using 5.1 for movies? ( I think that is probably a stupid question!). I watch a lot more movies than listen to movies these days and I suspect it would use a lot more power this way.
2. Would having this all connected be worth all the hassle?
3. Would there be a way of just wiring the speakers separately to to both amps...perhaps using a speaker switch, or would this be asking for electrical problems?

Thanks for your help!
 
1. Yes.
2. Probably. I'd say in principle adding stereo/ power amps to an AVR should improve things, but it depends on the quality of each component, synergy (i.e. will the Denon and Arcam amps work well together) and will you like the end result. In principle, it should be yes, but possibly no.
3. You can use a speaker switch. I used to own a Beresford TC-2770 and used it to switch between amps, but if the Arcam 8R has a HT Bypass (sometimes called Unity Gain) input, you can and perhaps should use that to let the Denon access its poweramp section without having to go through the Arcam's preamp. If it doesn't have HT Bypass, you can just set the Arcam's volume to 12 o'clock and use the Denon to adjust volume; see the video below for more info.
 

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