Hi all. I'm new to the board, so bear with me. My current setup is this:

Bose 301 V (front)
Bose 201 V (back)
Bose VCS-10 (center)
Velodyn CHT-10 subwoofer
Onkyo TX-SR700 surround sound receiver.

I think this is a great set up for movies. For music it's very good too, but I feel it is lacking in mid-bass (eg electric bass guitars), and the vocals don't stand out quite enough. I had added a used NAD 2200PE to power my 301s, and felt this was a great improvement. Very warm and full sound. It had the sound I was looking for. However, the amp was finicky and I've decided to get rid of it. It was too unreliable. I want something new. Someone on the audioreview.com board suggested a pair of Outlaw M-200s as a replacement. Do you folks think this would be a good improvement? How would this sound for music in stereo? Any info or opinions would be welcomed. I'm intrigued by the idea of having separate amps for each speaker. I'm looking to make a purchase in the next couple weeks here, hopefully.

Thanks,
Mason

PS. I am not interested in replacing my Bose speakers! I love my 301s! I feel I have a pretty decent set up...I just need better sound for music!

I know you said this, and you wrote it like you've heard this before, but...

Replacing your speakers will have a bigger effect on your sound than adding in a new amplifier. A more powerful amp will give you some more headroom for dynamics and pumping up the volume level a bit but it won't really change the tonal quality of the overall sound. A new amp may make your sound "brighter" or "warmer" but the overall characteristic won't change. (Boy, did I just repeat myself, repeat myself, repeat myself, )

Vocals exist in the mids of the frequency range. A speaker either reproduces this range well or it doesn't. There's really no way around this. It's physics...

Outlaw's a great company and it's a truly amazing sale. You can always do the trial period if you want hear the difference the amps will make. IMHO, you'll be speaker shopping after that...

Thanks for your comments, Jason. I understand that upgrading the speakers will be the biggest difference. However, I feel the 301s are the bookshelf speakers that sound best to me in their price range. Eventually, once my soon-to-be wife (getting married next month) and I move out of our apartment, I will probably upgrade to some higher end speakers (probably a floor speaker design for mains)...maybe Axioms or something like that, though that is something to consider in the future. Music is a much bigger passion for me than HT, so I want to have the best possible 2 channel sound I can get now, using the 301s as the speakers. I know it's hard to do this while incorporating into a HT setup...but that's what I'm doing anyway

Anyway, I want to have some good amps for right now, as well as hopefully the future...I think the M-200s would suffice and give me the sound I'm looking for...as well as adding more dynamic headroom, like you mentioned. I'm considering a few other brands (like Anthem, NAD, Cambridge Audio, Adcom), but the reviews I've read on Outlaw have almost all been universally positive. It sounds like they have very good customer support, something that makes me shy away from NAD after my experiences trying to get my vintage amp fixed.

Thanks,
Mason

Congrats on the wedding! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Don't forget about Outlaw's 30 day trial period. You can put the amps into your system and see exactly if they work for you or not. And Outlaw customer service is certainly top-notch. I've been lucky, knock on something around here, that I haven't really had to use it, but every report I've heard has been very positive.

Good luck!!

Mason,

A few comments from my perspective.

1. I too like the Bose 301. I currently use two pairs in my main theatre for the surrounds in a 950 / 7.1 set-up. However I'd be very reluctant to use them up front. I used to in my other theatre, but replaced them with comparably priced, and sized, Paradigm Titans and have been happy ever since. Replacing them up front would be the single greatest improvement that you could make - especially with 2 channel sound.

2. If its more power that you want, you won't get it by replacing the NAD 2200 with M-200s. I own a 2200 and it has to be one of the most powerful amps ever built - in real-world conditions. Sure it's only rated at 100 W/ch, but that's conservative AND it has 6dB of headroom! If yours wasn't acting up I'd suggest that you not replace it - or go completely wild and pick up another (usually less than $200 on eBay) and run a bridged pair. I run my 2200 bridged driving a passive sub with a 4 Ohm impedence and it never runs out of power! And by the by, my 2200 once got a little finicky as well. All it took was a $50 visit to the shop to make it well again.

3. Having said all that, there's a lot to be said about purchasing new gear - and that new owner feeling that you get. There's nothing wrong with the M-200. I doubt that it will "sound" any different than most other amps. But it looks good, has plenty of power, and is inexpensive. Go for it!

Regards.

Jeff Mackwood