2deafears

This is what I ended up with: Marantz AV8802A (pre-amp) Marantz MM8077 (LCR & surround amp) Marantz MM7055 (Atmos amp) 4 Klipsch CDT-5800 (Atmos speakers) 4 Klipsch KPT-8060H (Surround speakers) 3 Klipsch KPT-904M (LCR) 2 SVS PB16 Ultra Subwoofer The thin sound was caused by AV8802A setup and bad cables.

I swapped AV8802A with Sunfire, replaced all unbalanced RCA from pre to amps with balanced RCA. Everything came to life. It’s probably something with the AV8802A setup. I appreciate if you guys can tell me your settings like input level, crossovers, large or small, and so on as reference points. Thanks.

With Marantz AV8802A, the front are set to Large. I switched to Small but it didn't make much difference. Rather than mess around with the setup, I will leave everything in place and just switch the AV8802A out for Sunfire Pre/Pro to see if it makes any difference.

I had a chance to connect some old amps to the speakers last night; JBL6290 to L&R and JBL6260 in bridge mode to C. They made a significant improvement compared to Marantz 8077. Based on everything I have heard here Marantz 8077 should do just fine. With Marantz 8077 I can turn up the volume and the sound gets louder, but very flat and thin. With the JBL amps the volume is down and the sound is much thicker.

My first reaction was I wanted to drop to my knee and cry. My karaoke speakers, Yamaha DXR12, have a lot more kick and sound thicker. This cannot be. I am not sure where to start other than a bigger amp. Perhaps the Crown XLS2002? I hate to drop more shiny pennies without knowing if it will actually solve the problem. To the KPT-904M owners, what are you using for amp(s)?

I am running a pair of KPT-904M with Marantz AV8802 pre-amp and MM8077U amp. The speakers sounded really thin, almost like an in-wall speaker. I am either doing something wrong or the amp is way under power. Love to hear the members feedback.