Jventer

Never ending journey? It is good to see that we keep making progress.

Great I think if you buy used you can get a great 7 channel amp for less than $2K. If lucky even at about $1K. That leaves lots of $ for the future.

Who knows, maybe PM the seller and let us know.

Apologies, looks like you only have a pre, so looking for a poweramp or poweramps to do the rest. I still think you should just be patient and buy used. Drive the 2 fronts or even the 3 fronts with the bets amp you can afford and then drive the rest with something else. But, maybe you can pick up a good 7 channel amp. Regarding 7.1, do you have a passive sub? Many subs are active as in they have their own amp. If you have a passive sub you need an 8 channel amp.

I would not pay those amounts for either. Have not heard either, but I am just coming from a different direction. I am not saying they are not worth it, but a lot better value can be had by buying used. If it is 50/50 for HT and 2 channel I would look at an integrated amp with HT bypass. That way the 2 fronts is driven by the good amp for 2 channel and HT and your AVR is driving everything but the fronts which means it has more power to do the rest.

Sorry, don't understand, what is speaker pass

Great news

Great!

To the OP Absolutely a work of art! I think this is a bargain and hopefully will get to a good home.

With insurance the first rule is to not have any loyalty as their is none from the industry. The second rule is to know what insurance you want, e.g comprehensive, replacement, market value, windscreen etc. The third is to be patient and phone around/compare every year as things change constantly. (A good tip for when you do comparisons online is to use a VPN, and/or information that are similar, but not exactly the same as your actual phone numbers and addresses. Failure to do so will result in a barrage of phone calls and emails trying to sell you insurance and lots of other stuff and possibly trying to get donations from you as well.)

Now that I have read the posts since my last post I feel a lot better. I stuill understand why you would put the DAC in the chain, but as Dave mentioned it is not necessary. So, KISS I would suggest keep measuring and then interpreting with as simple as possible system. As usual, theis hobby is journey and not a destination. Thanks for posting I am learning a lot, hope everyone else do too.

@audio_file Thanks, now I understand re the dac in the chain. I am now very interested in how your other dacs will measure (and why there is such a difference between the 2 you have used)?

@audio_file: Wondering why you are using a Dac in the chain? With REW, my Umik microphone and Windows laptop/Mac Mini I do the following: Umik connected to computer via usb I use a cable that connects to the headphone out on the computer and to my left and right inputs on my amp. It is a 3.5 audio jack on one end and 2 RCA at the other end. Sometimes I use a cable with a 3.5 audio jack on one end and only one RCA on the other end. REW generates sound which is fed to the speakers via the amp only and the Mic via usb records the sound.

Now the graphs are getting interesting.

Digressing, but why oh why did I take my 124 to the dump in 1990.