First, know space is not to be wasted, but must thank all for the generous sharing of expertise and opinions. My question is basic, but a starting point for the under-educated. Is it better to have separate surround receivers for TV and music? I love classical, which has many nuances, and don't want to compromise music quality to get good movie sound. Will appreciate any advice.
It depends a great deal on how you spend your funds...
If you bought (say) a NAD T763 for surround and a NAD C320BEE for stereo duties, you may not perceive a great improvement in music replay with the stereo amp. However, if you went with a C372 then you would!
The other question you might want to ask yourself is this: which is your priority? TV or music? If your priority is music, then concentrate on that first with just a stereo amp and speakers. The surround can usually be added later, especially easily if the stereo amp has a dedicated unity gain (or bypass) AV input which makes for easy setup with a separate surround receiver. This is what I do, and the results are better than you'd think. Of course I don't get immersed in surround sound, but since my priority is music, I am content (if not happy) with the situation. When I have the space for a fully fledged surround system, I'll add the extra bits onto my (excellent) stereo system.