John,

The 9.8 / 1400 is the combination I had my heart set on, but when I starting thinking about all that money and my ‘huge’ 12 X 16 room, I decided to spend the money I save buying a receiver on something more useful.

If you want particular information on the 9.8/1400 combo, shoot CV a PM. He’s got it. If you can’t find the 9.8, the Onkyo Pro 885 is the same thing, but prettier. I’ve read that both of these units run hot as well (they also use the Reon).

If you go with a receiver as a pre/pro, you will loose balanced outputs. Unless you plan to have the amp and pre/pro twenty feet or so apart from each other, I doubt balanced outputs will serve any useful purpose other than cost you a pocket full of ten dollar bills.

I absolutely love the GUI on this Denon. Unless the Integra has something comparable, I’d sure hate to give this up. It’s just too friggin cool.