Tom, in my use class D amps have been superb at transients and clean, but lacking somewhat in fullness and tonal richness that good Class AB amps have. I requested specifically that the Whisper I have not use internal Class D amplification so that I could use whichever amp I chose to drive the bass. I have never regretted that decision. I recommend to anyone considering the Whisper that they strongly consider an outboard amp for the bass. Bill D. prefers the convenience and ease of setup etc. of the Class D internally, especially since some customers do not want to mess with yet another amp/cables for the bass. But I wanted complete control over which amp I used for the entire speaker and I am very happy with the results. I spent enough time with the Helix and its onboard Class D amp for the bass that I felt I would prefer the flexibility of my own amp choice for the bass with the Whisper. Some individuals are not so senstive to the nuances of the lowest bass, but I always wish to have complete freedom in working with all frequencies when system building.
You're doing a lot of 5.1, so you will definitely put much more emphasis on continuity of the amps with the surrounds/center than I have. With that much surround play I would attempt to get same brand for amps for all channels.
Conducting direct comparison with my Whisper DSW between passive X-over mode and active x-over/processor mode the fully active speaker is superior. It costs a fair bit more to realize its full potential, but you can start with relatively inexpensive multi-channel amp or a couple stereo amps (if you use the internal class D; if you opt for external bass amplification like me, then you're looking at 6 channels of amplifiction) and upgrade them over time.
The HD will be a relatively plug and play thing if you don't want to mess with the processor much, and it will cost less. To push the speaker to ultimate perfomance you will need to do the active speaker top to bottom and more channels of amps. If I recall correctly, I was able to get as good or better sound with less expensive amps from the fully active mode. I would not obsess overly about Mono/Stereo as the quality of the company's amps is at least as important, and often more important than if the amp is mono/stereo.
You may wish to hold off on the room correction for all the other speakers until you run the rig for a while. You may find that you are content without it all. I have heard some correction which left me thinking it was not so impressive.
I haven't heard Doug D.'s latest Coda amps in my room, but they sounded quite nice with Legacy at shows. The Wells Audio Innamorata (and the lower cost Akasha for the price point) have sounded excellent on a variety of speakers including the Whisper.
Currently I'm using a Musical Fidelity CDT-1 Transport- I asked MF to demo it and ended up buying it - with the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC Plus (reviewed), which I have rolled discrete opamps from Burson and DEXA's NewClassD offerings (I wrote an Audio Blast article about discrete Opamp rolling). This flexibility has allowed me to take Redbook and Sonos sources and obtain very high sound quality. I can adjust any components and speakers to suit my taste. Adding in power cord and digital link selections I have a dozen ways to present digital signal to the rigs I build for two channel.
There's a hundred ways to do digital!
You're doing a lot of 5.1, so you will definitely put much more emphasis on continuity of the amps with the surrounds/center than I have. With that much surround play I would attempt to get same brand for amps for all channels.
Conducting direct comparison with my Whisper DSW between passive X-over mode and active x-over/processor mode the fully active speaker is superior. It costs a fair bit more to realize its full potential, but you can start with relatively inexpensive multi-channel amp or a couple stereo amps (if you use the internal class D; if you opt for external bass amplification like me, then you're looking at 6 channels of amplifiction) and upgrade them over time.
The HD will be a relatively plug and play thing if you don't want to mess with the processor much, and it will cost less. To push the speaker to ultimate perfomance you will need to do the active speaker top to bottom and more channels of amps. If I recall correctly, I was able to get as good or better sound with less expensive amps from the fully active mode. I would not obsess overly about Mono/Stereo as the quality of the company's amps is at least as important, and often more important than if the amp is mono/stereo.
You may wish to hold off on the room correction for all the other speakers until you run the rig for a while. You may find that you are content without it all. I have heard some correction which left me thinking it was not so impressive.
I haven't heard Doug D.'s latest Coda amps in my room, but they sounded quite nice with Legacy at shows. The Wells Audio Innamorata (and the lower cost Akasha for the price point) have sounded excellent on a variety of speakers including the Whisper.
Currently I'm using a Musical Fidelity CDT-1 Transport- I asked MF to demo it and ended up buying it - with the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC Plus (reviewed), which I have rolled discrete opamps from Burson and DEXA's NewClassD offerings (I wrote an Audio Blast article about discrete Opamp rolling). This flexibility has allowed me to take Redbook and Sonos sources and obtain very high sound quality. I can adjust any components and speakers to suit my taste. Adding in power cord and digital link selections I have a dozen ways to present digital signal to the rigs I build for two channel.
There's a hundred ways to do digital!