How do you amp your system?

Sounds like a plan.

As you say, there's no right answer.

I can only add that you may find yourself on an upgrade spiral that could involve buying and selling a lot of equipment. In the past I have found myself to be better off just jumping over a couple of go-rounds. (Less fun but less work and less expensive.)

I'm kind of thinking along those lines. I don't like the compromises my budget forces me into, and sometimes prefer to do nothing until I can afford what I want. I'm almost there now with the amp choice - thinking an ATI 2007 is where I should be, but don't have a spare $3K right now. Emotiva could still be an option, but is that compromising? If I go with (for example) an XPA5 and XPA3, leaving the one channel unused, and having 200W per speaker for $1700.00 list, would that be 'good enough', or would the extra $1300.00 up front eliminate the need for upgrading? It's the old question of would I be wondering if the ATI would have been a better choice? I know, there are no crystal balls, but that's where I am right now. Of course, that doesn't account for the option of a used older amp or two,....

I run 4.0, with the front L/R powered by McCormack DNA-1DeluxeRevA, and the surrounds powered by my Onkyo receiver. I probably will go 4.1 soon, with a powered sub.