I'm building a 15' x 30' HT and need to know if I should buy the 200 watt Outlaw 770 or will the 100 watt 7100 work for me? I will be pairing up my amp with the Outlaw 950 pre/pro and will be using Energy Connoisseur Series speakers.

C-9 L & R
C-C3 Center
C-R3 Surrounds x 4
Outlaw LFM-1 Subwoofer
I don't know which wattage is necessary for this size room and these speakers. I need advice, and have appreciated the advice given in this forum in the past.
I look forward to your responses.

Thanks,

AAWingnut

Where's Gonk and Smart Little Lena when you need them?

I read a few of Gonk's posts on another subject so he's not on vacation, but I thought I would have had a response from him or Scott at Outlaw concerning this decision. I had hoped SLL would sound off on this as well. I have learned so much over the last two years just by reading this forum and asking the occasional question. There are so many people with vast amounts of knowledge to share. I hope it continues. I need advice guys.

Thanks,

Wingnut

Perhaps they are not familiar with the characteristics and wattage needs of your Energy speakers. Why not email Energy to see if they think 100w is more than sufficient.

The 7100 is fine for my needs but then I'm only driving Paradigm Mini Monitors, CC-370, and Atom surrounds. Basically mid-size stuff.

IMHO I would think the 7100 would be more than enough for a home theater set-up. The only improvement with the 770 is at extreme levels you would be less likely to “clip” and send a square signal to your speakers and cause damage.

As far as filling the room you describe with sound 100 watts should do that fine and as loud as any normal person would want to listen to. I may be wrong (and I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I am ) if you want an amplifier to play twice as loud as a 100 watt amplifier most people would think you would by a 200 watt amp. However it is my understanding that if you want to play twice as loud you really need a 1000 watt amplifier. Outlaw rates there amps with a lot less of a curve than a lot of other manufacturers. 100 watts per channel is a lot of power on tap. If you remember back to the late 70s early 80s it was very common to find nice equipment rated at only 25 to 50 watts. Hope this helps

Lasher

This is a question that I've posed to Outlaw as well.

In general, the main considerations when making this decision are room size, speaker efficiency, and the volume at which you play movies and music.

In modestly sized listening rooms with moderately efficient speakers, the 7100 will play plenty loud. The 755 and 770, however, will render dynamic contrasts in the material better at higher volumes.

So, for inefficient speakers, larger listening areas, or higher volumes, the larger amps are recommended. Otherwise, Outlaw considers the 7100 to be adequate.

Between buying a new house, selling the old house, overseeing repairs to both (including the refurbishing of the entire crawlspace duct system and replacement of a shower pan in the new house), moving, and fighting some deadlines at work, I could sure use a vacation. I think my brain is starting to dribble out my ears at the moment, actually...

I started to post in the duplicate of this thread in the 770 forum the other day, but felt that I couldn't offer much more than ndrayer already had in his excellent post. My knowledge of Energy's Connoisseur line is limited to what's on their web page. Based on that, the C-9's look to be pretty hefty speakers, but ndrayer's Studio 100v3's are as power-hungry or more so. The center and surrounds would likely be content with the 7100, even in a 15'x30' space, but the C-9's may benefit from more power. As Garrett suggests, Energy should be able to offer some good insight based on the room size and speakers you'll be using.

I'm in the process of getting my system set back up in a new space (about 17'x22', close to double the size of the old 19'x11' space I had the system in at the old house), and with a Model 750 amp (165W/channel) driving my Paradigm Studio 60's and Studio CC the results so far have been excellent. Your Connoisseur's are somewhat more efficient than my Paradigms, but you have a pretty large space. If I had to make a decision without any input from Energy, I'd say that the 7100 will absolutely work, but the 770 may offer some better dynamics and control -- especially for the C-9's. I suppose you could also get the 7100 and a pair of Model 200's for the C-9's and have two channels of the 7100 idle (or available for a second zone application).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

Thanks Gonk!

I've read your (and others) expert advice often over the last few years and I'm thankful for your input. What advantage, other that money, do I gain by buying the M200's and how do I use them? Do I output from the 950 into the M200's, then to the C9's. Then from the 950 to the 7100 to the center and surrounds? That is what I'm picturing, am I right? If I do this, do I then have 2 channel sound in the other zone with the 2 open channels (L & R) from the 7100? Am I correct in my understanding of amps and speakers that the speakers don't care where the power comes from, the signal comes from the pre/pro and how you power the speakers is just a personal choice. Could I also use 7 M200's? Isn't Outlaw still giving away 1 or 2 if you buy a handful?

Also, I almost forgot, what minimum gauge speaker wire should be used with any of these amps and these speakers. Is 14 guage OK? I don't know if I want to open up the Pandoras Box of CABLES DIALOG, but...., does it make THAT much difference?

Thanks again for your input.

Wingnut

I thought that I'd posted this yesterday, but my cable modem's grumpy...

The benefit of the pair of 200's would be giving your C-9's more power to work with without buying that power for the other five speakers. It would also leave you with two channels on the 7100 that cold be used for other purposes, if that was any use to you.

You are correct on your wiring -- the left and right channel pre-amp outputs from the 950 would go to the 200's, and the 200's would feed the C-9's. The center, surrounds, and surround backs would connect to the 7100, and those speakers would be fed from the 7100. Two channels on the 7100 would be unused, which is fine. Those two channels could be connected to the zone 2 outputs of the 950 and then be used to power speakers elsewhere in the house, or they could be left unused. As you said, the speakers are blind -- they don't know how they get their power.

14ga should be fine for your speaker wire. That's what I have to my surrounds at the moment.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review