thanks, gonk. the 970 isn't here yet, but magnepans arrived today and i just couldn't wait. the magettes and the hsu are plugged into my old receiver, from an RCA all in one HT system from radio shack. sit back down. i think the thing has a pretty good class d amp in it. sounds far better than i could have expected, once i set it to two-channel or "jazz". other settings had some pretty weird effects, like a piano behind me. i think the thing didn't know what to do with a 4/5 ohm load. check out my recent entry under speaker wire_$$$?. thanks again, happy trails.