Hello everyone,

I'm just entering the world of HT, and have a few basic questions that could have gone into either this or the 950 forum. I was hoping someone here could give me some advice.

Currently I have a simple stereo setup with a Yamaha RX595 driving two Polk RT10's. Since the Yamaha receiver has 5.1 Dolby Digital support, I wanted to upgrade my speaker system. I started eyeing the Polk Audio LSi system which opened up a whole can of worms.

The LSi15's are 4 ohm speakers with an efficiency of 88 dB. The Yamaha can drive 5 channels at 85W at 8 ohms, and at 145W at 4 ohms. After doing a little research, I've found a lot of people have had problems with mass produced integraded amps running these speakers, even if they can supposedly handle 4 ohm speakers.

This is where Outlaw comes in. I want to get the 950/7100 to drive these speakers, but can't afford to purchase both at the same time as the LSi15's. Is there any way for me to just purcahse the 7100 right now an connect it to my Yamaha? From looking quickly at the connections, it doesn't look like my receiver has any sort of amp outputs. I can connect an external decoder, which I understand to mean I can connect a unit like the 950 up to it, but that doesn't solve my current dilemma.

If I can't connect the 7100 to my Yamaha receiver, do you think the Yamaha will be able to power the speakers for the time being (until I can afford to purchase both the 9500 and the 7100)? Would it make more sense to buy the 950/7100 combo first and then upgrade my speakers? I just feel that I'll have so much more equipment than my speakers will dictate if I go that route.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.