[Overpaid Slacker]

Adam, talk to 10 audiophiles and you'll get 11 opinions.

I'm not sure what you mean by consolidating your stereo equipment, but a few observations:

Quality DVD front-ends are reasonably cheap now (unless you want a crazy Faroudja or something... which it sounds like you don't). I'd recommend even a $300-$400 Sony, but I'll probably wind up with the Denon DVD5900. That's just my total lack of impulse control, though.

Anyhoo, while no reasonably priced front-end does it "all" perfectly, a good DVD player can double as your CD front-end as well, so you "save" some $ there.

Make sure your pre-amp/processor takes all kinds of inputs, so you can run the sound in digital format to it. You can also get a patch cable/cradle for your iPod for a few measly bucks as well.

As far as amps... if those you have still sound good to you, use them to run separate speakers (drive the side/rears w/ the JVC and the A-F to drive L/C/R, for example). Again, the purists will tell you that you'll get different tonal qualities from different amps, but (1) you're in a huge, cathedral-ceilinged room, so unless you treat the snot out of it, the sound is going to be different and (2) unless you run the same brand of speaker, on the same type of speaker wire, you'll get subtle tonal differences anyway.

Soundstaging for Armageddon is much different than soundstaging for Mozart, so if you prefer approaching perfection in the former rather than the latter, the tonal differences won't bother you much.

Whatever processor you get, make sure it's got the ability to time delay (or accelerate) each channel ... that way you can come closest to soundstaging perfection even if the speakers have to be in less-than-optimal acoustic position. I've run Lexicon processors for years and swear by them, but to each his own.

The real answer as to whether you can make certain components work together is "depends." If your processor has a built-in amp it is less likely to have pre-amp outs. If your pre-amp is strictly that (as opposed to an "integrated" amp) it's unlikely you'll have much use for it in this system, unless it has a tuner. Either way, you'll be buying some cables...

Lastly -- and this is my little stump speech to everybody interested in sound -- buy the best cables you can afford. You'll keep them forever (and gradually push them down in your system(s) as you get better cables). A cable is a filter, plain and simple. The better the cable, the more sound, and true sound, you'll realize from your equipment. A $10,000 front-end connected to a $25,000 amp connected to $30,000 speakers will sound awful if you use shoestring cables. A humble system can sound pretty damned good if you use good cables.

Yes, matching the "right" cable to a particular amp-speaker combination is a nightmare, and largely personal preference, but w/o going through the hassle of auditioning many different cables, just getting quality wire will pay dividends along a much longer diminishing marginal return curve than spending that extra margin on a "better" component.

I prefer Transparent Cables, but there are plenty of fine cables out there.

JP