Just for the record, I will be getting either the Outlaw 7125 or the 7500. But I am trying to decide which one will be the best for me. Also, I am a bit new to the high-end audio stuff, so please bear with me if I say something stupid.

My system is Yamaha RX-V1600 (with pre-amp outputs), Polk RTi10 mains, and Polk TC615i in-wall surrounds. I've ordered a Polk CSi5 center. (In know some of you don't like Polk, but they sound fine to me, and I wasn't about to buy MartinLogans.) My dilemma is that my in-wall speakers can only handle upto 125 wpc.

So should I get the 7500 and just power the mains and center with the amp and let the Yamaha drive the surrounds? Or should I get the 7125 and power all of my system at the lower wpc?

My system is mostly used as a Home Theater, with about 25% of the time listening to music.

Thanks in advance,

If the speakers are pretty efficient (90db or above) and the room is not huge so you won't be pushing a ton of watts through them to get them moving, I would go ahead and get the 7500 and have the power if you ever need it in the future.

Feeding speakers rated to 125 watts with a 200 watt source is not a problem unless you are in 'Stereo 5' mode and pushing things hard. Even worse is driving 125 watt speakers with 50 or 100 watts and pushing things too hard. Why is that? Because, while in the first scenario the speakers will be receiving perhaps too much clean power and overheating, in the second scenario the amplifier will get well into clipping even before the speakers accept all they can - hard, nasty-sounding clipping can destroy some components of a loudspeaker and/or its crossover network in quick order. Also, some of the 'cleaness' of using a high-power amplifier is that high frequency transients being added on top of other lower but larger amplitude frequencies does not either overtax the power supply nor cause minor transient soft clipping. If your budget allows, use the higher power all around and behave yourself!

Thanks for the help Doug917 and BB4TB, I appreciate the information. I'll be getting the 7500 ASAP.