gonk: Thanks for the reply I had them set at a +6. Have you herd that the B&W's are hard to drive? Like I stated the old Yamaha seemed like it had more punch. Not as clean by any means !! I did hear a huge difference in the clarity? I had to have my 14 year old sit down and confirm myself. I was thinking of going to the 7500 whats your thought? New Shooter

The 603 doesn't appear to be especially difficult to drive (something like 90dB efficient and an 8 ohm load). The 601's a little less efficient, but it's also serving as a surround so isn't being challenged as severely.

One funny thig here is that while position of a volume knob isn't necessarily a reliable comparison, calibrating to a reference level should be. For example - where was the Yamaha's volume control when you calibrated it? Along the same lines, what sorts of dB levels are you hitting when listening to a CD in that space with the 990's volume at 0dB?

Another odd thing is that you are running 10dB louder on CD's, when DVD soundtracks are almost exactly that much lower than CD's and cable or satellite broadcasts (even before the recent tendency for more and more CD's to be mixed "hot"). Typically, I'd expect to see DVD's running at the higher level because of this.

Am I right in taking this to mean that the 990/7125 combo was presenting greater clarity but without some of the Yammy's punch? Did you many any changes to the way you're handling bass management, like running the mains at a lower crossover point? I don't know that it would make a difference - just tossing out some thoughts.
I'd first talk to Outlaw a bit and make sure you can rule out any configuration issues. The 7500 is most definitely a beast of an amp (mine drives my Paradigms as far as I need without any strain), but it'd certainly be both cheaper and easier to stay with the 7125 if there's an easy fix...

Thanks going to sleep on it and will call Outlaw in the AM. Thanks for you help gonk!!

New Shooter

New Shooter:
I Have the 990 / 7125 combination powering my B&W 602's without any problems at all...it is plenty loud and very dynamic.

There is a problem somewhere...upgrading to a 7500 amplifier is probably not the answer.
Good luck with your call tomorrow am.
Let us know hot it turns out.

This is really a simplistic answer but are you sure when calibrating your system you have the volume set at "0"? I know I made that mistake once and thought there was something wrong with my system, took me 2 hours to figure out what I was doing wrong.

New Shooter,
The 7125 has more juice to push the B&W's.
Like gonk and others have asked - i would be interested in how you completed the setup and calibration....

I downloaded the manual for your yamaha - the calibration is a ittle different. you should have more punch from the 7125 as compaired to the tried and true yamaha.....

Later..