Since the 70s, I've owned a pair of Bozak Symphony speakers that I run bi-amped with a pair of Bozak 135w amps, originally fed by a Bozak preamp. The sound for music is just what I want. As I added home theater, I wound up with a Pioneer Elite VSX-29TX receiver. I feed the pre-amp out from the Pioneer to the Bozak amps for L and R front, and drive my not-so-special center and R and L surrounds from the Pioneer receiver amps.

It sounds good to me for DVDs (both music and movies). But the Pioneer is behaving erratically. It's been in the shop twice in the last few months, and still isn't right. I want to enjoy the system, not spend my life - and money - at the repair shop. I'm ready to throw in the towel.

I heard about the Outlaw 950 and I'm impressed with the approach and the way the unit has been received, so I'm looking for some recommendations for building a cost-effective system around the Outlaw 950. I want to keep my Bozak amps and speakers for L and R front and I'm hesitant (and can't afford) to put world-class amps in service for the center and rears.

Any ideas?

The Bozak amps and speakers are world class.

I had the same situation as you, man. I used to have a SONY ES receiver that was made in Malaysia. After about few years of use; the pre-amp section suddenly stops working completely. Sent it into the shop for repair and it sounds even worse than the original. I suspect that repair guy probably didn't use the original parts and put some cheaper parts inside instead. Anyway, just sold that crap on ebay last year and got myself a new QSC amp, a Behringer equalizer and a BBE phase processor along with SRS stereo widener just for music listening and watching the cable TV in 2 channels. It even sounds better than that highly acclaimed SONY ES in surround. Now, I don't trust those receiver anymore. They probably have quality control issue oversea. Just from my experience.