that's a pretty large room not even accounting for not knowing what height you ceilings are. but i would thinl first and foremost your concern is matching your speakers needs to the amp's capabilities and then judging if the system will fill your space. i will say that i struggled with bookshelf speakers in my living room that is smaller than your space. personal pref is a factor of course.

I would think you will want larger speakers eventually to fill that size room. Especially for HT applications. I am struggling with a similar issue and have gone with a larger amp and likely will go with Axiom M80s or Aperion 633Ts for the other house. I did consider some Magnepan 1.6s but they are inefficient and I wanted to go with a 5.1 setup. I have heard them before and they are fabulous speakers for music and great for HT if setup right. Try to set you room up as symetrically as possible taking into account walls and floor reverberation effects. My house up north has a great room with 25' ceiling peaked in the center and occupies a huge volume because it is connected to a loft and foyer and kitchen area. I am holding out for the 997 for the Trinnov in hopes that it will help out with the reverberation. A lot can be gleaned from the various online HT mags and AVSforum but until its actually making noise I won't be able to tell what I need to do.

i'm trying to convince myself to go up to the Sierra-1 pair from Ascend instead.

That said, I rarely listen to music that's hugely pumped. We have young kids and my general preference is Yacht Rock.

And for reference, we are used to filling this room with speakers from our ten-year-old TV!

I've heard great things about those Sierra-1's. But without looking at the specific differences between those and the others you were thinking of ordering, I'm not sure that the differences will address your room size (as opposed to say, providing a more refined listening experience in a smaller room.)

The partial good news is of course that you have 30 days to try out the speakers. But I'm not sure you have that luxury with the amp company you're going with.

all, thanks for the help and setting me off on the course toward audio perfection. yes, perfection. i demand nothing less!

i have taken the plunge away from my TV speakers. what i ended up with:

• Emotiva UPA-2 (http://emotiva.com/upa2.shtm)
• M-Audio 2496 sound card for RCA out straight to amp (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496.html)
• Those blasted Sierra-1s. Too pretty to ignore, plus I won't be in this huge room forever!

I am poor. Thanks for all the tips. Will be back after I'm set-up!

You are going to love your new system. The sound is going to be fabulous. Let us know when you get it up and running. Does your sound card have the capability to feed a subwoofer eventually. Even a small sub will give you great LFE when set up right.

Nice pickup!!! "I am poor." I love it. I always think/say the same thing to myself after a sweet purchase but if you bought the right thing it's the right kind of poor.