Now I've done it. Ordered a 950/7100 combo and not much to use with them. Wondering where to start and what I can throw together. Any assistance and ideas are welcome.
My current "HT setup" (if you can call it that), is a 30" Toshiba TV, a pair of NHT 2.9's, a Carver C-1 pre-amp, a Hafler P3000 power amp, a Sony S7000 DVD player, an old HK tape deck, and a relatively modern Toshiba SD-V391 VCR/DVD combo, which I really bought to replace a VHS deck but thought it would be nice to have a modern DVD unit as well that could handle DTS, MP3, etc. playback. The Sony will remain, as for one, it's a great CD player (the Toshiba can't touch it in this category) and was in fact mainly purchased for this purpose although it threw me into the DVD early adopter status (what's another few hundred to get DVD support as well? - was my thinking at the time).
So clearly my setup is centered around stereo listening, the speakers and pre-amp were freebies and they do their current job just fine. And I do think that 2 good channels (the 950 stereo bypass mode makes this a go for me) are better than 5 or even 7 mediocre ones.
So with the new Outlaw gear I'm looking to get some more flexibility (be nice to change the volume without getting out of the chair!), plus DTS and surround support.
What I can add immediately is a pair of NHT Super Zeroes I have laying around (I have some mini M00s as well, but these are powered and heck, I'll have a 7 channel amp), plus I have some old rock band gear such as a big cabinet with nice 15" EV in it, and a smaller one with a 12" EV. I know they aren't ideal and I would certainly like any affordable suggestions for subs, surrounds, and center speakers. Would it worth a try to hook up the big 15" as a sub? And the 12" as a center? Or should I just use the Super Zeroes in conjunction with the 2.9's for a 4 channel system in the meantime?
Regarding the Hafler vs. the 7100, will my 2 channel sound suffer from 50W difference? Can I expect the 7100 to sound as good (or even better) than the Hafler?

Thanks to all and any who have been through this rat's nest of marrying gear from different era's before.

Chris

Well I think having the 2.9's are a great start. I would add a NHT AC-2 for the center and a pair of 1.5's for surrounds. Any quality sub will help for HT. Outlaws LFM-1 will surely do if it's quality per dollar ratio follows suit with the rest of their products. You could also skip the sub for now and bi-amplify the 2.9's with NHT's SA-3 amp or use the Hafler for this purpose. There are lots of places on the net selling the vintage NHT speakers as used or NOS.
As you can tell I'm a fan of NHT and since you have a pair of one of their best speakers I would build the system around them if you like the sound.

Glad you like the 2.9's. I think they sound superb as well. But I am trying to limit (read: stop if reasonable) expenses beyong this point (at least at this point). If the 7100 sounds great and has enough power then the Hafler can be used otherwise and no need to buy another amp such as the SA-3 (isn't 7 channels enough?). I do have a Rane AC23 (3 way stereo, 5 way mono active crossover) to throw into the mix if would would matter.
Basically I have speakers and plenty of amp channels (7100 = 7), I don't neccesarily want to pray at the NHT altar (not that I would mind if i had the cash) yet don't want to lessen the 2 channel capability I already have.

Is it better to leave it 2 channels (or 4 with the Super Zeroes) now and wait until I can purchase new surrounds and a sub? Is the 950+7100 a silly contemplation at this point?

Chris

Given the 2.9's are like most NHT's and very inefficient I would seperate the amplification of the 2.9's especially since you will already have the amplification. Use the 7100 to amplify the top of the 2.9's and the Hafler for the bottoms. Since the Hafler has it's own gain control (unlike the 7100) you can dial in the sub section of the 2.9's a little better. Overall I think the 7100's 100 watts is a bit shy for the 2.9's while driving them full range.
Since you are going for a HT setup, the need for a center speaker is critical IMO, and I would go with a matching center like the AC-2 or even the AC-1. Matching the rears is not quite a critical so the Zeros would work just fine. I read you want limit additional purchases at this time but it seems that with the addition of a center channel you would have all you need at this time for a pretty nice HT setup.

Thanks. My room isn't all that large and right now I run the Hafler with the gain all the way down, yet never get the Carver's volume control past 12 O'Clock (although this is more a design artifact of the C-1). Could I not just bi-amp the 2.9's, if necessary, with 4 channels of the 7100 (realizing I would lose separate gain adjutments)? When bi-amping the 2.9's isn't the internal crossover bypassed making an external crossover necessary?

You could just biamp using the 4 channels of the 7100 but I think the advantages of a sub amp (whether nht's or some ther brand)would be the gain adjustment, phase control, high and low pass crossovers.

Your 2.9's have passive crossovers which are not bypassed when you biamplify. The crossover is: 100 Hz 12dB/octave high-pass and low-pass, 320 Hz 12dB/oct. high-pass & low-pass
and 3.5 kHz 18dB/octave high-pass. Make sure you remove the connection straps on the binding posts before you biamp.

All that being said it isn't imperative that you biamplify I just figured if you didn't have a seperate sub you might want to have a little more control over the sub sections of the 2.9's for different listening stituations such as music or the lastest blockbuster.