I am new to the forum...and would first like to say hi to everyone and thank you for your help.

My dilemma ( besides not being a millionaire)

I have a Harman kardon AVR7000. I will for cost purposes be using this for my processor for now, and would like to add more power to the current Paradigm Studio speakers i have. (only 5, i do not plan on getting 7 channel surround due to space limits.) I am wondering if this 7500 model is my best choice or should I be looking at a different model?

I have also been told to look at Anthem and ATi amps for my purpose as well. So I am a huge movie watcher with the wife, and friends, but listen to music almost daily as well. I just ned some honest feedback on this. If I choose any amp I will be waiting for a sale since a baby on the way is making cash tighter and tighter !

Thanks to you all for your help

Welcome! Most (and maybe all) Outlaw amps are made by ATI to the Outlaw's specifications. (Gonk, correct me if I am in error). I have owned the 770 for mnay years and it has been bulletproof and a real workhorse. Just bought the 7900 at the Black Friday sale and can't wait! I have not owned the 7500, but my bet is that any of their amps will wind up making you smile! This company is honest and customer service is about the best I have seen. Good luck, whatever your final decision may be. And congrats on the new baby!

All of the multichannel amps are built by ATI. I have the 7500 and it is a beast. Conservatively pumps out 200 watts into each of its 5 channels at 8 ohms. 300 watts into 4 ohms. These are per channels ratings, not the fake 100 watts per channel as long as only one channel is playing. I drive Magnepan 1.6 QRs with it and it cranks out some really clean sound. You could also look at the 7125 which has 125 watts into 8 ohms and 185 into 4 ohms.

Does the HK have analog pre-outputs you can feed into an outboard amp? I couldn't tell from the small pix on the net.

First off thank you for the congrats on the baby.

So if ATI makes the outlaw amps then would it be understandable to say
Maybe the ATI amps are better ?

ATI builds amps for several manufacturers as well as themselves. Outlaw specs the amp to them and they build it with the same quality as there own amps. Check around the net, Outlaw has a superb reputation for all of their amps as well as their subs and processors.

Just to add Jaretz

Exactly what Xenonman said. I have the 7500 myself and this is a monster. The power and detail is incredible. I have seen a bench test on this unit and it actually produced 240wpc on all 5 channels simultaneously driven at their .03 THD rating. The 200wpc rating is very conservative. Outlaw has ATI overbuild their amps. There are 150000mf of capacitance in the thing and it has two massive 1.6kva transformers. The quality (build, fit, and finish) is first rate.

Get this bundle of joy before the real bundle of joy comes along.

By all means, the 7500 is a terrific amplifier. Spend the money and also invest in some good cables to hook it up. You will not be disappointed. Oh by the way, get a dolly, you will need it to move it around.

aeroguy, and everyone else that has posted, I appreciate the info you have given up to me. But now I have one more question....

If I use my Harman Kardon AVR7000 for the processor and purchase a 7500 to power the 5 speaker set up I have, what cables should I use? The speakers use single set banana plug ins (center channel and rears) and dual banana plugs on each of my front towers. None of these speakers have the balance jacks, so I am just using some copper monster cable wire right now. Is this a bad idea?

How are you going to connect the amp to the HK? The input to the amp has to come from the HK from the pre-amp. The HK does have analog output to allow feeding an outboard amp. You have to remove the jumper pins and connect the preamp outputs to the amplifier input and then connect the preamp output to the input of the new amp. You can't use balanced cables as there are no XLR connectors on the AVR 7000. Get a set of 5 interconnects from BlueJeans Cable long enough to connect the AVR to the amp. You can use the same speakers cable you have now but each speaker has a Positive and Negative side and has to be connected to the correct terminal. The red terminal should be connected to the positive side of the speaker and the black to the negative side. Do this for all 5 speakers L,R,C,SL and SR. Copper Monster cable is fine just make sure the polarity is connected correctly and that no stray wires are touching anything except the terminal.

Thanks so much for your help, that was a perfect explaination