7125 vs new receiver

I am looking for some advice for my next upgrade whether to buy a new receiver with HDMI capability or add a 7125 to my current setup.

Right now I have a10+ year old Sony ES receiver that supposedly puts out 85W/channel into 8 ohms. I have Polk speakers (5) all have 89 to 91 for sensitivity with LCR rated at 200 W and the surrounds at 125W. The L and R have built in SW so would like a processor/receiver that has better bass management as well. I am running all HDMI into the LCD TV and my bluray is decoding the HD audio then input to the receiver via analog inputs.

If I were to go to an amp now and a new pre/pro later (such as the newly mentioned 978) which amp would be a good option the 7125 or the 7500 as I tend to hold onto my gear for a while before upgrading.

My room is approximately 20x25 with a cathedral ceiling opening into a loft.

Any suggestions/help is appreciated!!

This is my first post here and no I do not own any Outlaw stuff just yet although I have been interested for many years.

Which polks?

I am running the RT 20p as LR, a CS350 for center and a pair of RTi35 for the rears.

I am trying to decide if I should buy a new receiver in the next few months and then add an external amp later or buy the amp now and then a pre/pro later. My ultimate goal is to move to seperates and then eventually upgrade speakers.

I have been looking at the Onkyo 808, Marantz 6005, or the Denon 3311 for recievers. My Sony ES receiver does have pre outs for a new amp.

I'm also running big Polks and first tried upgrading receivers to a Dennon 3801. The sound improved, but a year later I was buying seperates and have never looked back. Once you've got the bug, you might as well save some money by skipping the "better receiver" phase and set about building the system that you want.
The Sony will sound better with a seperate amp.
With your room and speakers, I'd buy the biggest amp that I could afford.I don't think you'll ever regret it.

+1. I found a noticeable difference when upgrading from a good Yamaha receiver to the receiver and 7125. Moving up to the 7500 improved the sound quality even more. I recommend going with the larger, separate amp. The Outlaw 30 day guarantee allows you to decide if that combination fulfills your audio needs.

Rob

A good number of people have had their systems go through some kind of evolution. A common theme happens to be the transition to separate amp(s). The improvement is not necessarily the SPL levels but rather the sound is cleaner and more detailed with separate amps. With a receiver you have to share the power with preamp duties, video processing etc. This leaves a little left over for audio amplification. Using a separate amp, leaves a dedicated power supply just for audio.

Looking back, one of the most dramatic improvements was using a separate amp for all channels. I have a secondary system where I also use a separate amp (mains only). The reason was simply because it sounded more detailed using an outboard amp for the mains.

Another advantage is that one does not really have to worry about using speakers with an impendance rating of less than 8 ohms. I have a set of Axioms (M80) driven by an ATI1202. I do not have to worry about the receiver going into protection mode.

You can always try it for 30 days. Even after the 30 day period, separate amps are fairly easy to sell, if you still don't like them. My first amp was an Outlaw 7075. When I caught that disorder (upgraditis), it was easy to sell at value(minus shipping charges/taxes). Buy as much amp as you can afford the first time and avoid the common disorder.

I concur with the others who said to get the largest separate amp that you can afford. The improved cleanliness of the sound, and not the level, is what you hear most when you move up to a larger amp. Additionally, with more power, the amp is not driven as hard. Anecdotally, I had a 7125 driving my 5 NHT L5 surrounds and it got pretty hot (but admittedly not to a problem level) under everyday (mostly TV) use. Because the heat gave me any excuse for my upgraditis, I moved up to the 7700 (with balanced outputs too) and it is cool all the time, even under heavy loads. For example, I was driving my whole 7.1 system (on the Outlaw 990 7.1 stereo mode) really hard--i.e. super obnoxious loud when the wife wasn't home--for several hours and my 7700 was still cool. In fact, I was driving the system so hard that I even blew a center channel speaker DRIVEN BY A DIFFERENT AMP--it turned out my center channel trim was turned up 3db over all my other channels to make voices better for TV which I guess was a bit too much for the volume I was using. Therefore, go with the largest amp you can afford; but don't be too obnoxious with the level when your channel trims are out of wack.

You could always try a big monoblock for each of the mains and a smaller 5 or 7 channel amp for the rest of the system.

Thanks for all of the great input!! I am leaning toward the external amp as well right now. The only issue is the WAF and saving more money for the bigger amp. Now, I am looking at the 7200,7500 or 7700 depending on how little patience I have to save more money and what is available in B stock when I am ready to buy. Any thing to know about these amps or should I just buy one, hook it up and rock out!! If I time it right perhaps I can get a combo deal on one of the amps and the 978!!

Going this route makes more sense in the long run as I do want to upgrade speakers down the road.

thanks again!!

How many channels do you need and do you need balanced connections. Sounds like 200 watts is you power need. The 7500 and the 7700 are essentially the same amp with different channels. The same is true with the 7125 and the 7200. If you don't need long runs between the amp and its source, balanced connections don't really get you anything other than better noise rejection. Over short cable runs you won't need it so why pay for it. Also if the amp has balanced connections we tend to think we have to use them, so we tend to limit the choices of pre-pros to only those that have balanced outputs.

Currently I need 5 channels and don't know if and when I would need 7 so I have been looking at the 7500 however for the same price I can get a B stock 7200 so will have to see what is there when I am ready to order which may be a few months from now that I need to save a bit more dough. As for the balanced inputs, they are not a priority for me and if Outlaw offered a 5 channel unbalanced amp I would really look at that as the cost would be lower. Thanks again for the input it is helping me attain a more focused plan for my HT

I have the 7125 and the 7500. The 7125 is my everyday, use it all the time, machine. I drive some Magnepans with the 7500 because they are power hogs. Can your mains be bi-amped? If so, I would suggest the 7125 and you can use two channels for each of the mains. Recognize that 200 watts output gets you +2 db SPL over the 125 watts from the 7125. You don't sound like you need balanced outputs so save the $$$ and try out the 7125. Your speakers are 89 db efficient and the 7125 will drive them to extreme levels near 110 db vice the 7500 which will go to 112 db. If you can bi-amp, then you can have as much power as you will ever need to the mains and much more power to the rest of the system.

XenonMan
My mains have the inputs to be bi amped however the two 8 inch drivers have their own amp (Polk says 100W, whatever that means) so I don't think there would be a benefit from bi amping them. Currently I am tracking down a ground loop hum when I hook up the "subs" with line level inputs and if I can fix that then I would just be driving the tweeter and midwoofer with the amp which to me means I would have plenty of oomph with the 7125 with two channels free for later upgrades.

Also, my rear speakers are rated at 125W so 200W might be too much for them as well.

I have read some where that the Polks have issues with ground loop hum. If you can't find the issue readily, it may be in the amps for the woofers. Can you power those woofers straight from an external amp like the 7125? Maybe you could use the spare channels to run your subs.

I've never encountered ground loop hum problems with Polks. Make sure that your feeding the amp and the powered woofers both from the same outlet( mine share a Monster Powercenter).
Is the humm just comming when the poweref woofers ar plugged in?

I have all of my electronics running through a panamax 5100 and have been running my subs with a speaker level input. Recently I have been attempting to run a line level to the subs and speaker level to the tweeter and midrange. My theory is that I am wasting current and energy by NOT using a line level as my subs have their own built in amp. Where is the current and energy going that is not needed or used by the amp? My viewpoint is that I am wasting all of this so the problem arises when I plug the line level into the sub I get a nasty hum. I have disconnected the cable tv from the system with no loss of hum so the hum must be coming from the line level connection between the sub and the receiver. This hum was not present when using the speaker level inputs.

My quick fix is to make a common ground with a small stranded wire between the receiver, which does have a common ground screw on the back for just such a purpose, and to the amp on the speaker. I have not had time as of yet to try this fix but will over the next few days.

XenonMan
I have never thought about bypassing the amps and then using the extra channels that way. perhaps if I cannot figure out the ground loop issue this may become a solution.

Well I have not logged in here for over 3 1/2 years and even missed an opportunity to purchase a used 7500 amp!! I have not purchased an Outlaw product yet however I have updated my system since this post so long ago. I now have a bigger TV, a Marantz SR6006 used as a preamp I bought on discount, and an Adcom GFA 7000 I bought used off a friend for 500 bucks. I decided to go this route after Outlaw cancelled the 978 and had not introduced the 975 yet and I got a bit nervous they may not put something out soon so jumped the gun and bought the Marantz. I still have my eyes on a new amp from Outlaw down the road but now have shifted my main focus to a dedicated subwoofer and/or new speakers.

thanks for all of the support for my previous thread and may have more questions regarding subs in the next few weeks.