Ok, so I'm brand new to this forum and fairly new to the upper...um... not so best buyish home theater market. This year is the upgrade of the home theater sound system, and I would like some opinions and thoughts about IF my system will work and IF it is a good idea to do it like this. Here goes
I would like to use an Outlaw 990 as my processor with either a set of 3 Onkyo M282 amps for power or an Emotiva LPA1. I don't really know if dumping a bunch of money into my cables and such is worth it, I've never used high end stuff like this before. I am looking to eventually go to a Paradigm Monitor 9/11 setup, but my first priority is the electronics involved. I used to sell home theater equipment at a local sound shop, so I have *used* Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite, Polk and Paradigm speakers. I know this post isn't very informative and I kind of expect a zillion questions about it, but thanks for your help in advance!!!

I'm not terribly familiar with the Onkyo M282. It looks like a 2x105W amp, and as such would probably do a pretty respectable job driving Paradigm Monitors. At a list price of $300 each and street prices that look to range from $200 to $280, though, I'd consider pairing the 990 with an Outlaw 7075 or 7125 instead. Combo pricing with the 990 would save you $100 in either case.

I'd recommend some restraint in what you spend on cables. There are some very good quality cables available (particularly online distributors such as Blue Jeans Cables and even Outlaw) that are worth investing in, but don't get carried away. Heck, you can even take a cue from a long-time forum resident (recently returned to us) and make your own ...

Now for the requisite assortment of questions... What sort of source components and display do you have or plan to get? What size is your space?

Thanks for your reply gonk. My theater system consists of an Optoma HD70 projector and a 106" gray Da-Lite screen. The a/v sources are a Xbox 360, an older progressive scan 5-disc Samsung dvd player, and HD Cable from Time Warner. Honestly I'm having some issues with getting a really good picture on the projector, but that's not for here. And my room is roughly 13.5' x 19' with 8 ft ceilings. It used to be a carport, but was turned into the living room many years ago. It has ceramic tile on the floor so I've got a large area rug down to try and help with the cold and the sound bouncing around.

I took a look at Blue Jean Cables and they seem fairly reasonable. I did purchase a 33 ft HDMI cable last night for my cable box, only to remember that it's a DVI output on the back, so back to the store for an adaptor.

Is the Outlaw brand better than the Emotiva stuff? I've kept an eye on Emotiva for a few months and they seem to be running out of stock, which to me is not a good sign if they can't keep their warehouses full, but I've got no experience with them or Outlaw honestly. The stuff I've used is all non-internet national brand stuff. I'm sure you get questions like this all the time, but I guess it's part of getting the word out.