Hi everyone, thanks first of all for populating this forum with extensive information for sound lovers.

As the title says, I’m looking for quality improvement there, but without knowing if I would get “bang for the buck” as American say (I’m not, I’m french, so sorry for the bad english…).
I moved recently from a Pioneer 454 SACD dvd player + Yamaha 1400RDS 5.1 system to a dedicated HTPC, with an Auzentech Prelude 7.1 soundcard, that is still plugged to the Yamaha, but to 7.1 speakers now.
The main difference is that I’m using the analog outputs of the Prelude (which is the main idea behind buying this thing), to feed the A/V receiver, selecting “multi ch input”.

So all the sound processing (e.g prologic IIx from AC3 tracks) is done by the PC, using various software (power DVD or VLC to name a few). The receiver is only “passed-through”.

I must say that from optic or coax output, decoded by Yamaha, to analog output from the Auzentech, with no digital processing from Yam, I saw a massive increase in quality. The sound is richer, crisper, less neutral, less “flaten” (if any of these can help you figuring out what it sounds ).

Now, after reading a lot about separate power amplification, and narrowing down to Outlaw 7700,7200 (or 7125?) product (precisely for the bang for the buck thing, as reviewed by many..), I’m wondering if:

I’d get such a pleasant surprise if I got rid of the yamaha, to put the Outlaw behind the sound card instead, or if I should keep the Yamaha for the 4 surrounds and buy a smaller dedicated power amp for the 3 fronts (2200?), or simply keep it as it is ! etc..etc..

I wouldn’t say money is no object as it always is, but I’d really like to be satisfied to find the optimal solution to de-bottleneck my installation, if there is a single bottleneck! I was so impressed by the improvement of the Prelude processing and analog outpu, that now I ask myself “are you missing something obvious that doesn’t cost 10k$ but would rivet you to your chair with happiness?”

Below is my configuration. I use this 70% of the time for movies, 20% for filmed music like operas, 10% for video games (to be increased :-P). My room in the basement is 20ft wide 21ft long, carpet on the floor and plaster walls.

The speakers I have are in home made cabinets , all 8 ohms, and incorporate the following:

sub: 269 SWR 51 XLS from Peerless 100W, + passive counterpart, individually powered by a 300W source.
center: 2* Audax HM100GB 40W with 1* Audax TM025 70W tweeter
Front: 1*Audax HM170G8 (60 W) and 1*TM025F1 tweeter (60W)
Surround: 1*Silverflute W14RC25, 60W and 2* Fostex FE87E ("rated input 5W, music input 10W" ?)
Back surround: Fostex FE127E rated 15W, music 45W?.


I would appreciate any feedback from people that “evoluted” like I could do, especially people that moved from Yamaha integrated receivers to Outlaw power amps, with or without keeping the Yam as a pre proc. What power would they advise me to get?
I would also welcome comment like: Your system is already very homogeneous, no bottleneck, keep it or change everything ! 
Again, thanks a lot for what you can throw at it, I’d be glad to give feedback on the installation I have, even though I’m more a PC geek than an audiophile.