sound quality might be an AV receiver with HT bypass capacity in conjunction with a two channel component which also accommodates HT bypass. It would likely not involve minimizing the number of components or minimal cost. HT bypass into a two channel system would remove the compromised amplifier sections and superfluous audio/video processing of AV receivers that can affect sound quality.

I don't consider decent quality AV receivers to be a bad choice for listening to 2-channel music. I have an older Kenwood AV receiver that sounds pretty good, and I'm thinking of giving it to my sister to build a system around. She only has an iPod dock/speaker at the moment, so it could be the start of a pretty big step up.

The main thing with AV receivers is that you'll have to spend more to get comparable 2-channel sound quality at a given level. Low, mid-level, or even higher level AV receivers with up to 7.1 channels don't generally use as robust a power supply, or amplification components. It's a matter of room in the chassis, and room in the budget. I know there are receivers with very high quality output equivalent to good 2-channel, but they're usually going to be more expensive than the same sounding 2-channel. Once you get beyond two channels, you're paying for stuff that's not used in stereo playback. So you usually have to spend top dollar to get multiple channels of high quality robust amplification (plus all the AV circuitry), or you keep the cost of the receiver down by settling for more economical amplification circuitry.

But it's all relative. I think a lower to mid-level AV receiver can satisfy many peoples ears, especially when compared to entry level integrated amps.