I've been pondering the question of getting a preamp processor for our main floor and bypassing any receiver.
I already have an amp to power the speakers.
In thinking about this, i would prefer a pre-pro with HDMI for some of the same reasons you are using yours.
DVD-a, SACD (of the few i have) plus future Bluray capability via a single cable.
The rat's nest behind the tower is still a rat's nest after cable ties when you have a multitude of cables.
Taking the component vid out of the mix along with various audio cables and going down to a single cable, HDMI, would be a huge plus before we wall mount a tv and have too many cables to rewire through the wall.
