system matching help

as a cj owner and lover, i'm a huge fan of the 11a and think that it is capable of delivering the current you would require to drive some of the speakers you mentioned (even the limited power 11xs drives ml's sl3's). that said, i agree that you should spend some time in a high quailty a/v showroom. and consider going with a solid state multichannel amp, around which you can build a really solid home theater set up. on this site i've seen some good deals on cj's solid state 5 channel amp, as well as some good deals on krell's (slightly more expensive) offering. there are quite a few good multichannels out there. with good front speakers, most will be capable of delivering excellent 2 channel sound as well. in my opinion, this makes sense given your 50/50 tv/audio split.

Why the snobbery.Does one who enjoys rock and roll not have the right to purchase good high end gear.Or sorry is it for the Classical Jazz snots only. As for advice.Two Channel and HT are hard to do well in one system.If you have too combine them then go with a good HT 5 Channel amp.A Bryston 7bST/Anthem MCA 5 and a good AV preamp.Anthem AVM 2.I would invest 2K in the source and then listen to a whoke bunch of speakers.

I'm going to have to go with Leafs on this one. It is hard to do HT and 2 channel together but not impossible. Not knowing your budget but assuming you don't want to spend too much, start looking for a good AV preamp that gives you an analog bypass. I currently use a B&K Ref 20 like this. Next, when looking for front LR speakers for 2 channel, make sure the manufacturer also makes a center channel speaker that will match sonically with the LR speakers. I currently use Vienna Acoustics Beethovens as my main LR speakers and a VA Maestro for the center. Next, comes the amp. You may consider getting a separate two channel amp for the LR speakers and a 3 channel amp for the center and rear. I currently use a Proceed AMP2 for the LR mains. This works well with the B&K and VA Beethovens for 2 channel. When I want to go HT, I turn on the 3 channel amp and am set to go. The most important thing though is to audition as many speakers as possible in your budget range. Good luck whatever you decide.

Streetman, no offense but it seems like your lacking a plan of attack here. As others have mentioned, you really need start at one end (source) or the other (speakers) and go from there. In my experience, doing up-tempo music like basic rock and "souped up" country music can work well with a "dual-mode" type HT system. Both require punch, dynamics, volume and gobs of "pace". Most "panel" type speakers are a little out of their league here. Given that logic, you might want to think about some older Klipsch models. If your handy, these can REALLY be made to sing. In stock form, you would need to be careful as to what you mated them with. Some Heresy's or Cornwall's with a slightly "warm" sounding amp like a NAD 2600A (150 wpc @ 8 with big dynamic headroom) would work like gangbusters with either of these speakers. Since you already have a Rel sub, i would shoot for the Heresy's. They have slightly punchier bass, but not quite as much extension. This would give you the best of both worlds since the Rel could handle the bottom end that the punchier Heresy is lacking. From there, it would strictly be a matter of picking a preamp ( think VERSATILITY here ) and a source. A preamp that comes to mind is the Marsh MSD-P2000. Besides getting excellent reviews, sounding very smooth and natural with great warmth and body, it is right up your alley. It has inputs for CD, tuner, dvd, video, line 1 and line 2 along with a tape loop. You could plumb your Satellite into the "video" jack and the TV into "line 1" or vice-versa. Dual outputs are also included, should you choose to bi-amp at a later date. The only thing that is possibly missing is a phono input. If you require this, something along the lines of the Musical Fidelity X-LPS offers great versatility in terms of being able to work with both MM and MC cartridges. This could be plumbed into "line 2". EVERY function on this unit can be operated by the remote, so adjusting the volume while watching a movie or changing sources is no big deal at all. Like i said, VERSATILITY but with performance and convenience. All of this a reasonable price to boot !!!! If your into playing digital music, i would HIGHLY (and i can't stress it enough) recommend going the route of a good CD player or transport / DAC combo that made use of tubes in the analogue section. If you chose to use a DVD player (which would also double for your HT interests), the addition of a tube DAC would add so much body, air and "musicality" to your system that it would amaze you. Until someone hears the difference that something like this makes in THEIR system, they will never fully understand comments like these. Going the DVD player route for both CD's and movies would free up another input jack. This could then be used for your VCR or another source that i may have overlooked. Mating specific cables and a tuner would be all that is left to do and i'm sure that you could find PLENTY of help doing that right here on Audiogon or at a local dealer. Hope this helps. If you have further questions or comments, please post them here or feel free to email me or any of the others. Sean >

if ya wanna have a combo h-t/audio system, get a preamp that has a default signal processor input - this allows a h-t processor to be plugged-in, and when ya select that imnput on the preamp, it defaults all controls to the processor, allowing volume, etc, to be controlled by the processor. when listening to audio, none of the processor electronics is in the signal path. linn, adcom, vtl, & sonic frontiers all have pre's w/this feature. cuz i like tubed pre's, i'd suggest trying a sonic frontiers - tubed, but wery neutral, which ya prolly will need w/a c-j amp.

if ya like the electrostatic sound, check out the newform research r645 - the other's ya mentioned won't rock or do h-t too well - not enuff dynamics. the r645, @ 91db/1 watt, should be ok. check out their www, & the user reviews on audioreview...

doug