What I originally had, was a set-top decoder, and you ran it to a seperate
power amplifier if you know what i am talking about.

Yeah.

You had a decoder which received and decoded the surround signal and sent the
audio output to separate amplifier elements.

Such a configuration is typically an audiophile-type.

It's a pity that your friend fried the decoder. Hope it wasn't something like
a Lexicon decoder. If it was, then you ought to make him pay for it. Those
decoders, even a Technics one, can be hard to come by and do not sell for
cheap, even used. - Reinhart