I'm planning on purchasing B&W 703s for the LR, a HTM7 for center, and 4 DS7s for surrounds. Plus a Velodyne subwoofer. For the next few years, it will be a system primarily for movies. Once the kids are gone, I may find time to relax and read. For now, it will primarily be a system for home theater. The room is in a finished basement, L shaped, about 20 deep by 20 wide in the main viewing/listening area with the "L" coming off the back and being about 20 deep by 15 wide.

I want clarity and authority and spectacular special effects. A truly engaging experience. I'm already well down the road in spending more than I anticipated, so I'd like to only buy what I need in terms of an amp. But I don't want to stop a few dollars short after spending a wad on the basement, TV, and speakers.

The B&W specs say 90db at 1 watt. That's pretty sensitive, right? Not too tough of a load?

My current B&K 105wpc drives my M&K satellites + powered subwoofer as loud as I care to listen. Would a 7100 meet my needs? Or should I go ahead pop for the 770?

Thoughts and suggestions most welcome!

The 7100 should do with 100 watts all channels driven.

I have the 7100 with Klipsch but I have to admit the pull for the 770...I have not needed it though.
Bill

Jim: that's a good question for which I'm not so sure that there is a good answer.

Going from 1 watt to 100 watts is 20 dB. Going from 1 watt to 200 watts is 23 dB. You say that your speakers are 90 dB SPL with 1 watt. At 100 watts that would be 110 dB SPL. That is terribly loud. I doubt that you would be listening that loud. Generally, anything over 85 dB SPL is too loud for me. At 200 watts, you would have 113 dB SPL. Would you be able to tell the difference between 110 and 113 dB SPL? I don't know.

If you don't have a sound level meter, I would suggest that you either borrow or buy one and run a few test cases. Radio Shack makes a fairly cheap one for about $40.

Now we get down to the real toughie, will your receiver put out 105 wpc simultaneously to all channels? We have been having a discussion about this subject on another board and the answer, most probably, is NO. Will it put out enough power for your listening experience? Only you can tell.

The outlaw spec for the 7100 says "Power Output (FTC): 7 x 100 watts @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20kHz, 0.05% THD, All Channels Driven."

The outlaw spec for the 770 says "Power output: 200 watts RMS x 7 (all channels driven simultaneously into 8 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with less than 0.05% total harmonic distortion). 300 watts RMS x 7 @ 4 ohms."

I don't want to be a real nit picker here, BUT, look at the differences. The 7100 DOES NOT say anything about driving a 4 ohm load. Will it? Probably, but they don't say. And, in the 7100 description the word "simultaneously" if left out. Is that significant? I simply don't know. There are a few other spec differences, also. Do they make a difference in your listening experience? I just don't know.

My advice?

Try your setup with your current receiver for a while and see how you like it.

Umm, I don't know what you are looking at but the specs on the Outlaw website CLEARLY state:

Power Output (FTC): 7 x 100 watts @ 8 ohms, 20 - 20kHz, 0.05% THD, All Channels Driven

7 x 165 watts @ 4 ohms, 20 - 20kHz, 0.05% THD, All Channels Driven

Please note both specs are All Channels Driven.

7100 Specs from the Outlaw Website

I'm using the 7100 with an Ascend/HSU 6.1 setup. I will be the first to admit that down deep I wanted the 770 but didn't couldn't justify spending the money for one. Well, after using 7100 for a few weeks no I can honestly say I'm glad I saved the money and went with it. It is all I need in my setup. If I had it to do all over again I would not hesitate to purchase the 7100 again.

warf: my bad on the 4 ohm rating. Got in a hurry. Good catch!!!

But, they omitted the word simultaneously. Was it on purpose?

And, they have "FTC." If that is the Federal Trade Commission, then I think what they are trying to say is that they are only driving 2 of the 7 channels to full power for 5 minutes. At least that is my understanding of the requirement. Maybe someone can comment on what the "FTC" requirements are and how they apply to this amp. Maybe I'll look for a link.

ON the 770, outlaw specifies RMS. That is a good, solid specification.

Now, how does RMS compare to FTC? I'm not sure. It could be an apples to pears comparison.

I'm not trying to bash outlaw or the 7100, I'm just trying to understand the specifications.

Here's a link that starts addressing the issue.
watts

I think that there are some significant differences between the 7100 and the 770.

Yes, I was correct about the FTC being a two channel spec. Here's a link.

FTC

This article gives a better description of what the FTC specs are and how you test them.

FTC Tests

Let's belabor this a little further. Here is the FTC link to changes made in the year 2000.

FTC changes

I find the following most interesting;

"allow the subwoofer and satellite amplifier sections in combination self-powered speaker systems to be driven to full rated power separately, rather than simultaneously, during the power rating tests."

Bottom Line is that I really don't think that your 7100 is rated at 100 watts for all 7 channels simultaneously.

Hope that this helps! I believe that it helped me better understand the outlaw specs.