Seeing how you will use the 7 channel amp for surrounds only with the CJ for the mains, the 7075 will easily be sufficient power for that function. If you plan to upgrade in the future the 7125 will provide more headroom and control in a bigger system.

Thanks for the feedback. I got everything set up today and changed the source from coax to HDMI and calibrated the channels. With my 1070 all channels were within a point or two of zero db. With the 975 I have huge swings between channels. The front L is +9 and the front R is -10 when calibrated with the SPL meter. Any idea why the large discrepancy? Perhaps this is part of what's causing the low volume? This configuration also causes a loud hiss from the speakers.

ChiTown Hustler,

You are indeed getting strange results. Please call Scott on Monday and provide him with a detailed description of the exact set-up steps you took. Let's see if we can figure this out.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I'll give Scott a call Monday. I think I may have gotten a dud. Not only do my calibration numbers have wide swings as mentioned above, but when I exit the OSD and return to music the -10 channel is very low while the +9 channel is very loud. Whereas the SPL meter said the calibration dB between the two was equal. Also, all channels play all of the information received (source connected via HDMI). For example, the display shows front L & R + SW, but all seven speakers play.

I'm having some trouble too although with a cheap Insignia display. Initial startup can take as much as a minute. Switching between Comcast box & Blu-ray player can take 45 seconds at times. The 975 has crashed 3 times & needed to be power restarted. I am NOT blaming this on the 975 at this time. I rather suspect that it is a problem with my Insignia display. I am going to experiment with running the display analog component for awhile and see if I can learn anything. I really wish that I had a second HDMI display here for comparison.

Just to see if it affects connection time, try switching the Video Output Setup to Autoscale if it is currently Native. (Ref manual p.33)

You can help minimize handshakes buy "fixing" the resolution of each devive to match the display's native capability.
If it is a 720p display, set the cable box to 720, the bluray to 720 and the 975 to 720p. The same goes if it is a 1080p display.
This will at least prevent the display from relocking to every signal change.
Do not leave anything on AUTO.

Try that and see if it helps.

A quick update from my earlier posts regarding the low volume and channels with huge calibration swings. I received a new 975 today and after getting everything connected I calibrated all of the channels to within a point or two of zero. The volume issue I was having must have been connected to that problem somehow as I now have lots of overhead on the volume dial. It sounds amazing and I couldn't be happier. Thanks Scott!

Man I am impressed -- the turn-around time is superior to service I get with enterprise IT that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars! Peter: How about you buy out Dell?

Ha- you should have made your suggestion a few weeks ago. But, perhaps there's an opportunity for Peter to come to Austin and do a customer service seminar at Dell