New amp or new surround speakers for my new RF-7?

[MojoX]

Hi,

I got my new RF-7 this week and I am very happy with them. Even with my Yamaha RX-757 they sound good when listening to music and movies. But as I have some money left I can buy me now a new amp (Atoll In 80) which is much better for music than the Yamaha or I can buy 2 RS-7 which I can't get anymore in a few months.. (I could buy the new RS-62 though).

Well, I tend to buy the RS-7 but everytime I listen to music I think that with the Atoll it would be propably almost as good as having sex (because even with the Yamaha it is good).

So what do you think?

By the way: I have already the RC-7 and I use 2 floorstands from another brand as surrounds

Thanks in advance!

Mojo

[Speedball]

Hi Mojo,

It's a personal preference kind of thing. My brother likes his underpowered multi-speaker surround system and I much prefer my mildly powered two channel system.

[MojoX]

Normally I would prefer a good amp too but the problem is that the RS-7 are discontinued and propably much cheaper than the new RS-62...

[MarkBK]

I would go with the RS7s now - as they are discontinued - sound GREAT and were designed to match the rest of your 7 series. The are an impressive surround!.

[Zen Traveler]

I would upgrade your amp and wait and buy the RS-7's (or something else later). I am glad to hear that people enjoy their Yamaha/Klipsch combination and I don't want to come across as being a Yammi buster. Yamaha makes good products. I have never owned the Yamaha RX-V-757. I HAVE owned the critically acclaimed Yamaha RXV-800 (along with the Yamaha RXV-795 and RXV-793).

The last time I used the RXV-800 in my HT was when it was powering a Klipsch Legend series in my house. I had nothing to compare it to (since Yamaha was the only AVR brand I had owned) and was happy how it sounded. It wasn't until after I upgraded (I use this term loosely because the KLF-20's/C-7 combo sounds really sweet []) to the Reference series that I noticed the difference in AVR's.

When I moved the Legends to a larger room and still being powered by the RXV-800 is when I notice the difference. I couldn't get the volume high enough before by ears started hurting. I bought a Pioneer (don't remember model #) and hooked it up and it kept shutting down at higher volumes.[:@] I took it back and purchased the discontinued Denon AVR-3803 (which if you look at just the spec sheet looks like it would be in the same class as the RXV-800). I could not believe how much difference there was in AVRs! []

Prior to getting the AVR-3803, I purchased the Denon AVR-4802R, THX Ultra II, 7 channel (or 9 channel as I have it configured) AVR for my Reference HT. I was looking at the Yamaha RX-Z-1 and the Denon AVR- 5803 but both were out of my price range and the AVR-4802R had THX ultra II certification and was $2,000 less. {On a side note--that was over 2 years ago and I don't feel the urge to upgrade.}

After wondering why the dramatic difference in 2 receivers that were rated at near the same WPC (RXV-800 & AVR-3803) and through deductive reasoning, I found the big difference was in Power Consumption. Denon amps use almost 3 times as much power as the Yamaha amps. They also weigh considerably more. My conclusion: More power--Better speaker performance. I realize this could carry on to the "Separates is the only way to go with RF-7's" view, but I think upper-end Denon's are a happy bang for your buck price point, between AVRs and Separates.

From my viewpoint if an AVR is going to be good for Music it will be just as good for Movies when we are talking about multichannel material. I have not demo'd the RXV-757 in my home and the Yamaha site doesn't list the Power Consumption numbers, but if the dynamics are still the same, I stand by my conclusion. I also am not trying to persuade anybody to get rid of their Yamaha (that isn't able to be returned or exhanged) that they enjoy. I just wanted to share my personal experience. []

[BobbyT]

What do you listen to more, 2 channel music or multi channel-movies and music? If it's 2 channel get the amp, if it's multi channel get the RS7s. I just got a set off of my dealer today for $500.

And just for the record I'm in the Yamaha camp. But Denon also make quality products. And the RF7s do sound better with an external amp.