Hello everyone,

This is my first post so do be kind...I own a Marantz SR7002 which powers a 5.1 surround system. My front and centers are Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1s, my surrounds are the Ascends CBM 170s, and my Sub. is the LFM-1 Plus. My wife loves the system and thought it might be even better with two additional speaker in the back. Are 7 speakers too much for this receiver? Any thoughts? I really want the 7500 but I'm sure my wife will ask questions! As a side note, the LFM-1 Plus is amazing. Thanks Outlaw!

Back surrounds can be a nice upgrade, but they are very dependent on room layout. If your seating is against the back wall, it may not be a space that is well-suited to upgrading to 7.1. If you have some space behind the seating position, you will be able to locate the existing surrounds to the sides and locate back surrounds on the back wall, an arrangement that will allow optimal results from a 7.1 system. You may also want to use direct-radiating speakers (like bookshelves) rather than dipole speakers for the back surrounds. I've done both, and have come to agree with direct-radiating rear surrounds (the recommended arrangement per both Dolby and THX).

The SR7002 will support seven speakers, and I think it has a decent amount of internal power. Adding two rear surrounds - unless you add something really exotic and use some all-channel stereo mode - will not create much additional load on the receiver's power supply. Adding the 7500 would be more effective an upgrade in improving what you have now (with or without rear surrounds) than anything else.