excellent sound will never go obsolete - regardless of age. features are added every now and then. after everything else, it's still the sound you're after.

i upgraded early this year (jan'05)from onkyo receiver to 950/7100. and that was after months of fence sitting, reading posts at different audio boards/forum. now that i'm an owner, i can honestly say that the 950/7100 combo is a standout performer (compared to onkyo receiver and harman kardon 325 in my opinion). to fully appreciate its optimum performance, you need to set up and calibrate your system properly using an spl meter. you owe it to yourself.

have fun!

How quick does outlaw ship out stuff after its ordered?

Their FAQ says that "We typically ship all orders within five working days after receipt and clearance of your credit card data." but I think that most credit card orders are shipped within 24 hours.

They shipped my order very fast. Too fast in my case. I had it within a few days and my speakers are still 1-2 weeks out. I'll have killed at least 21 days of my 30-day trial and warranty before I can power up the gear for the first time. Bad planning on my part.

how fast is shipping? well, their 5 working days estimate is a safe one. actually, they do it VERY FAST! i'm from hawaii and when i placed my order by phone on a Wednesday, 2 days later (Friday), the 950B/7100 combo arrived. set up the system on a saturday and by sunday i was playing with the new toy. so, considering where i live, i'd say that's too good to be true - but they DID it.

Is there a good site that explains the difference between 4 ohm and 8 ohm? Is one preferred over the other? Or could someone explain this to me? All I know is that my receiver and my speakers have to match (ie both be 8 ohm).

I did a little web searching for a good summary, but haven't found much yet. Here's a novice's overview, though, which hopefully will help a bit.

I don't think anybody will relate the speaker impedance to the quality of the speaker, so from that standpoint there is no reason to limit your choices based on impedance alone. Also, it is worth noting that in every case, a speaker's impedance is a nominal rating. When you actually hook the speaker up and start feeding it a signal, the impedance will vary with the signal. A nominal 8 ohm speaker might at times dip down to or even below 4 ohms, for example.

The big issue, as you mention, is powering speakers. When designed properly, separate power amps generally can remain stable even with loads that dip as low as 2 ohms or less (which would be necessary when driving a nominal 4 ohm speaker). Receiver amp sections, however, usually are a bit more restricted. Receivers asked to drive a 4 ohm speaker will often experience problems with distortion, overheating, or even tripping overcurrent protection. If you do intend to use a receiver to drive your speakers, you will have better luck connecting it to 8 ohm speakers because of the easier load they represent.

Does that help at all?

That does help. I have seen some receivers or amps that give two different wattage outputs based on the impedance. I can't remember which one gives a higher output. Why is this?

Any time the impedance drops, the wattage an amp is capable of producing increases. We can thank Ohm's law, which can be stated as volts = watts * impedance. With the voltage fixed, lowing the impedance will increase the wattage. In theory, this means that using a lower impedance speaker can wring more power out of the same amp. The only catch there is that some amps' power supplies can't keep up with the current demands as the wattage demand increases under a low impedance load. Here is a link that my web search turned up that might be of interest to you.