essentially that's it. I think channel vs channel on the wto amps, the 7500 barely wins out. The cool thing is I could switch, since I have that luxury. Lastly, the soundstage in front is very important and I thought that the soundstage of the 3 front speakers (5 channels, however) needed to come from the same amp. Lastly, I only have 2 mono blocks and yet I bi-amp my 15's.

Got it... That was the first thing I tried for about 2 hours then again a couple weeks down the road switching back and forth but I could not hear a difference. Could be my ears...
Thanks guys
Mike

I am glad to see more happy AV123 customers in this forum. I am running the 990 and 5xM2200 to drive 4x RS1000, a center (RSC200) and a larger sub (SVS PB12+2). I upgraded from a pair of RS750 and a pair of RS550 this year. If you like to listen to music REALLY loud (~110 to 120 dB) without hurting your ears (distortions) this setup does it. The pre/pro and amps do a nice job in handling the speakers without going to their limit (just make sure the amps get enough air when driven harder). Before settling for the ROCKETS I auditioned some Energy, Polk, B&W, M&K, Boston Acoustic, Martin Logan speakers. I also had a set of Aperions powered tower speakers at home (very nice design and pretty good sounding for what they cost). I have to go with MikeLi and say that the ROCKETS impressed me, especially for the price. This is of course very subjective. The nice thing is that you can find local owners (http://www.frappr.com/av123) to audition their setup before ordering some of the ONIX gear. Good luck in finding the right speakers for your ears!

If you're planning on the fun of auditioning new speakers, I'd like to recommend Magnepans. If you've never heard planar speakers, then you owe it to yourself to give them a listen. Put aside all preconceived notions of how a speaker is supposed to look and work. A properly driven maggie is a thing to behold. Check out their website
http://www.magnepan.com/, they have options to fit most budgets, unless you're on a shoestring.

Craigo

I second Craigo87, as he knows. You can audition the smallest Magnepans in your own home for 60 days, then return them for a full refund - no cost to you but freight. The one you can audition is the MMG full-range model; you can see it at Magnepan.com. I did this a few years back and it made a Maggie believer out of me. In a large room with at least a couple of feet behind them - the more the better - they'll literally awe anyone who loves the sound of live music.

Hey Craigo87, I see you have a Velodyne subwoofer with your Maggie 1.6QR's. What crossover frequency do you use, and is the Velo really a worthwhile addition on classical music (apart from pipe organ where it must really add some authority in the pedals)?

I really like my M&K's (see my signature below). They get kudos for their subwoofers and their satellites are terrific. The best description I can use for M&K speakers is that they are accurate. Nalod makes an excellent recommendation to call Barry Ober at M&K. For example, Barry was very helpful with the questions I had about speaker placement. I got the impression he was more interested in getting the setup correct in my room and educating me versus selling M&K products.

The knock against M&K is they can be a little difficult to find in retail stores and slow to fill orders. For example there is only one authorized dealer in the greater San Diego area. However, they do sell direct on-line and I had good experience when I bought my 851s on line (discontinued color at a big discount). Also, enough M&K speakers have been sold so various models regularly show up on ebay and Audiogon. My only recommendation is to listen to M&Ks with their higher performance tweeter (it is square). IMO it is better than their other tweeters.

Most of all, enjoy your search for speakers.

AV,

I started with getting LCR 850's in cherry with black grills on Ebay factory fresh all three for only $800! Then I got a cherry VX850 woofer, also brand new for $550! I thought I was on my way to bargain city as I bought Matching 650's in cherry for $500 bringing in the system for under 2k and feeling good about myself!! ha, the 650s were black and got returned. Then I got with barry and he was great. I had ordered online some real small 25 tripoles and was lookig to add more for 7.1. Instead he talked me into returning them and just get the CS surrounds and go with a better 5.1.

I was planning to get a 970 and a 7125 or a Denon 380.. The I kept reading and thought the 990 was much better. Then in my feeble mind I was thinking why buy a 7 channel amp, just get a 5! So Losing my mind I have a 7500 that I damm near broke my foot getting in the house tonite. Oh, darn that SMS-1 looks so cool, hey why not one of those! And look, the New LFM-1plus is even better than my LFM-1 and that should go in the pool room, so if I order the SMS combo, its only 499! Oh, I need balanced cables, thats $200! From Outlaw, they come in a beautiful zippered virgin plastic case I can display them in . They are really pretty, and heavy! I am worried thieves are not going to steal my equipment, its the darn copper in the cables im worried about. Whose gonna run off with my 250 lb Aconda? or my 80lb amp? And those darn heavy cables!

Oh, I need some new cables, better call Blue jeans, I need three of those, 100 feet of that, two of those, three of that. Oh $hit, thats $400 more in cable.

Man would SACD sound nice! Hey, the oppo what ever only costs $150! But the proper cable is $130! whats up, I spend almost the same on a got damm cable than the player!

Bought a line conditioner on E-bay, It should work right? Just light up and look good!

She asked me if this was gonna be harder to turn on than the last system and my response is to now investigate a universal type remote!

Next time someone should tell me to budget $1000 just for cable and a remote!

I lost my mind! My Wife said don't tell and she won't ask! She kinda knows, but asked me if you spend all this jack at outlaws do they throw in a t-shirt or hat? "Bitch!"

Electrician coming over on saturday to hook up a 20amp line for it. Just to be safe.

I am excited! I just wonder what the hell I am forgetting.

Got a few SACDs on order plus the latest Animusic!

Oh, gotta pay for it!

Gonna have fun this weekend!

I wonder how those M&K's are going to sound?

Oh yeah, Im a big fan of them and have some other of their stuff in the house. Trolled E-bay for two years until some wood veneer 850's came on.

And to think I considered a bose lifstyle system a few months ago! Plug in and 15 min later your ready to go!

Nalod,

Nice post! All the funnier because I've been just where you are and trying to explain "Really, this is just what we need for great sound and we don't need anything more..." at the same time saying Bose is junk. That said my next "need" is an upgrade to my 3-year old 42" plasma when the HD-DVD format war has a probable winner and the plasma (or SED??) monitors with 1080p drop in price. I'm now getting educated on scalers since I can only have a 5.1 system and the 990/ATI 2005 do a fine job with current sound formats.

I think I bid on your cherry 850s. They went through a second auction when it looked like the first one got screwed up. You got a great deal at $800 for the L, C, and R. Sounds like your discussion with Barry Ober closely matched mine; the guy provides great advice.

My ATI 2005 is virtually identical to the Outlaw 7500 and yes, it really takes two people to safely move it into a rack or cabinet. But its worth it, that 300w per channel (at 4 ohms) provides more than enough clean juice to run the M&Ks. It never gets warm, even at fairly high volumes (when the family is not home!).

Oh, I also added a dedicated 20 amp circuit for the HT when we did a kitchen remodel. It isolates all the electronics from my ceiling lights that are on a dimmer. As for cables, I got PO'd at expensive cables that where the wrong length so I learned to make my own. Bluejean uses Canare connectors and coax for their really nice RCA cables. The Canare tools were too expensive so I went with Belden coax and Permaseal connectors; they work well.

If you have all that new gear to set up this weekend you are going to have a great time. You have a fine system that will provide great sound. Let us know how it all works out.

P.S. A universal remote has a high WAF when it is programmed correctly. My Harmony took the edge off the complaints the system was too complicated.

Nalod,

I'm also interested how you like the CS surrounds. What height did you get? Those speakers might be a solution for a family member's problem placing surrounds in their family room.