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Its cool, because you can mark the chain/discussion solved when done, but it saves it with your ID and you can go back and read later if you need to remember. Outlaw Audio has the same thing.

I honestly think Emotiva does a great job with their styling.

Never heard of that, but I have worn these guys out the last few days with my level issues. https://audyssey.zendesk.com/home Go to ask audyssey and start a ticket.

That is one con of McIntosh, but damn they look sweet. We watch movies in a dark room, so stuff glowing is counterproductive

RF7's, but this is purty...

No thanks on the dedicated Marantz amps.

Amps are about the ugliest thing in a setup, unless it is a Mcintosh... Where as, other than the 7II's, the AV7702 is the prettiest thing. Those things are fine.

Everybody keeps saying this but it kind of depends on what kind of quality and brand you are going for. Case in point, in terms of MSRP, the cheapest preamp Marantz has is $2,000. You could get a flagship Marantz SR-7009 receiver for the same price. You wouldn't really save anything. Comparing top of the line flagship offerings, you'd be out twice as much for a preamp, their next step up is 4 grand. Yepp, I'm onto it for $3500 with amp/preamp. New preamp in 2 years or so, another $2000 likely. Sure, there are cheaper models (Emotiva), but I like XT32.

I had not really paid attention, and just realized this model was not ported. Any issues with it say 6" off the wall (back to wall)? I would assume not without rear ports. I currently have my RC62II about 10" off the wall, but moving back would allow me to get the distances to the MLP more in line with the fronts, if not exact.

So you call me a friend and hypocrite in the same breath! Nice. Moving on, have a nice year with that one.

Should get the emotiva in today to fight the DC voltage on the line (amp hum). Will post back with an update, maybe it will work and be helpful to someone else. Neither the APCH15 nor the Panamax did squat for the issue. Next move is cheater plug if this doesnt work...

I haven't disparaged anyone. I just have no problem pointing out a certain hypocrisy in the popular opinion. And I only commented to say I agreed with Coleman as well, his. The issue is that many folks do not seem to think that way. Everyone's setup is different, what works for one, may not work for the other. I've been around AVS off and on since 2006. There are "usual suspects" in audio threads as well as video threads. Just the way it is. His comment: was spot on.

I agree, but... Those usual suspects are not willing to budge on their theory, they just tell you that your speakers are efficient and you don't need amp, where as I never go around and tell someone they must have an amp to enjoy their setup. It depends on speakers, room and listening volumes. What happens in my backyard does not necessarily happen all over the world, but you can't tell them that. They just throw wattage/spl calculators at you... They just wanna tell me I could have saved money and bought an AVR. I have never seen a larger group of anti amp people than those at AVS forum. A lot of smart posters (post history) agree in separates, but they choose to avoid the conflict but will gladly discuss their experiences via PM/email.

First impressions are, it's gorgeous. Blue ring (even though I hate the porthole) looks sharp in the dark. Internal guts, what I have seen with the top off (another person's pics),look very nice. Menu's are fast, XT32 is faster than my Denon 4520 (newer chips probably), and the connection possibilities are plentiful. I hope to try out the balanced connectors this week, and also need to try out airplay. It connected to wifi quickly, and the dual antenna's pull in a strong signal. One other thing to note is they have changed the font size in the menu's, so most everything fits on one page. Especially in the speakers menu, where with so many channels info went across two pages. All in all, it's another D&M product with XT32, but they continue to make tweaks that improve the experience. The XT32 setup menu's also give you more pointers and explain mic positioning at each step, which is a must for the general user base IMO (not everyone reads the Audyssey setup thread at AVS, if they even know about AVS or other forums in the first place). It runs cool, something an AVR being used as a preamp does not. My 4520ci as a preamp, was more hot at then end of a movie than the XPA-3 was. SQ was outstanding during the movie last night, but I changed a LOT of components out, so I cant attribute all that to the 7702. I do know some people claim the new HDAM's produce a better sound than the 7701/8801, but I cannot attest to that. I do know during the tense scenes of The Babadook, I heard every detail and thump I needed too and it was clean, which had me on the edge of my seat. That is what quality audio is all about. I never really realized or appreciated, before getting into better gear, how the Director's choice in music or sounds plays into the overall effect of a movie. For some, especially horror movies, those sounds are as important as what happens on screen at times.

If how it sounded tonight is a sign of what's to come, the trouble was worth it!

I tell you what, Metallica Pour Une Nuit cranked with the Outlaw 7125 was great, it'll be one that gets blasted here soon with the 7ii's and 7500. Just watched the horror flick Babadook. Lotta quiet scenes with doors closing and slams, and the 7ii's def have some authority running at 60hz. You can easily tell their horns have more *** than the 62ii's, even though they are level matched.

If you just want pure db's, I can give you my results I took when adding the second sub. This is of course all speakers running, 0.0 (reference volume) on the preamp (Outlaw 7125 was the amp) and checked with my checkmate spl meter at the MLP. BTW, 0.0 is where I normally listen Bayformers 1, city battle at end: 116.3db(hit 117 on the hwy battle) Act of Valor Gun Boat: 114.6 Iron Man 2 Final Battle: 116.1 Star Wars Pod Race: 115.8 FYI, when I added the second 15", the numbers increased by 2-3db's, which was expected, but he bass response is soo much better. Long story short, I do like to crank this baby up.

Man, these 7ii's are a piece of work. Very clean, or sterile (in a good way) and throaty. I know I wasnt crossing the 82's at 60hz like these, but there is an obvious difference.Watching the new series Dig and there is good congo type drum music in the background, sounds great. Can't wait to watch a blu-ray in a bit.

No worries, I really don't care what anyone else thinks, and I don't need tests. My eyes tell a calibrated display looks better than one that isn't, and my ears tell me my system cranked sounds better with an actual amp. Just like XT32 sounds better than earlier versions of audyssey, which weren't that good IMO!

It's funny you see the same folks in those threads, that you see in other speaker threads and AVR threads at AVS, and they love to tell you how you don't need an amp (especially if you are a Klipsch owner). In general, the no amp crowd loves to explain to you why you don't need one, even though I have heard differently with my own ears. Where the separates crowd generally doesnt care what the no amp crowd does... I personally do not think some people can simply get the concept of high volumes, transients and headroom. I've gotten to the point to when I see where it's headed, I stop commenting. It annoys the hell out of me, especially when someone (many times that has NEVER owned an amp) tries to tell me something is wrong, when I know for myself it is right.

I hear friends crank stuff up and it is just bad. One friend, who bought my VTF2MK4, just arbitrarily cranks the sub gain at will. SMDH.

That chart shows it dips down to 3.7 Ohms...That said, I have only heard that the Original RF-7s dipped down to 2.7 Ohms in a couple of frequencies but haven't ever seen the charts--Does anyone have a link to one? Yeah, I just now looked at it. Pretty neat testing.

Isn't the RF7II the one with the ohm dip that is more prominent? Seems I read that one time...

I missed this in my correspondence with Audyssey staff "If an in-line attenuator or gain knob on the amp are not available, the speakers can also be level matched manually using an SPL Meter. Go to the receiver's setup menu for manual speaker configuration and adjust the speaker levels, when the master volume is at 0 (reference) the pink noise should measure 75 dB C weighted slow with the SPL meter at the main listening position. Start with the speaker that is playing over reference level and adjust all speaker to match that speaker." I had too many irons in the fire with too many problems and everything got a little jumbled. Will be curious to see how hot the XLR levels are when I get them in next week (hopefully Wed). From my understanding the sub is a shot in the dark with an SPL meter, so knowing they are set at 75 together, and say I have to go 80db on my other speakers, I then just boost the sub sliders 5db.