Well I finally did it and ordered a B-Stock Outlaw 7700 amp and the bundle of 7 balanced interconnects.

Also went to Magnolia's yesterday and got a B&K 200.7 clearance item, so I have something to audition the Outlaw against.

They had to get the 200.7 from another store so sent me home with a 200.5.

Interestingly the slight high frequency hiss (you have to put your head right next to the speakers to hear it) that is coming from all speakers is still there, which leads me to believe that it's an issue with the preamp and not the amp as I first thought.

So far the B&K is a small improvement over the old Kenwood. Even though wattage is rated at twice the Kenwood, it doesn't push out more DB (then again it's loud enough to be unbearable at reference level which is probably loud enough, methinks). It does seem to be less pinched, have higher bandwidth when played wide open.

Anyhow, better end this before my better half chops my head off.

More to come.