Best way to power Rockets

[calnbs]

My Onkyo 805 is beginning to fall apart. Thank God I accidently say "yes" to the stupid question, would you like to buy an extended warrenty?

Anyways, they won't fix it but will be sending me my full refund. I owned 2 Onkyo receivers and both of them...at some point, their connections eventually fails. Would I be a fool to go with Onkyo again for the third time? At the same time I think I'm bored with Onkyo and want to try something new as well but still looking for the best bang for $$$.

I thought about HK but seems like they got their own issues. I thought about the Refubrished Marantz 8001 but with just a 1 year warrenty scares me away. A4less' extended warrenty seems to have horrific ratings.

My budget is $1K or so. I thought about going something in the $400 range receiver like a Onkyo 705 and hitting a Emotiva amp? If Emotiva, which one? I don't have experience with amps. Or would I be better off just receiver since my budget is limited? My current set up is 7.1 but I think I'll be moving toward 7.2 soon.

[bp2007]

Perhaps it will go a little over $1K range, but Emo XPA-5 with a $400-500 range AVR should be good. AVR can drive the 2 rear surround channels.

[Jason]

Do you need video processing or just switching? Is DTS-MA and DDHD decoding necessary or is your player doing that?

For that budget I'd be looking at this.

[calnbs]

Thanks for the advices so far. I am looking very hard at a new Marantz 6001 and one of the Emotiva amp right now. I am just not sure which of the Emotiva amp would I benefit the most using it with a Marantz 6001.

I am just not comfortable with 1 yr warrenties with Refurbished items....since my Onkyo pooped out on me after 1.5 yrs and it was a new one.

[Ray3]

6th Avenue (authorized dealer) has the Denon 3808 for about $1100.

[calnbs]

I emailed Emotiva and they recommended the UPA-7 but also recommend that I should also go with a seperate amp to power my subwoofer. How much of an improvement will I get if I go with a seperate amp to power my MFW 15? How much of an improvement will I get from my speakers by not sharing power with subwoofer? And if it is the case, what kind of amp am I looking for to power my subwoofer seperately?

I also looked very hard into Marantz 6001 and combining it with the XPA-5 as what bp2007 recommended.

[calnbs]

The MFW-15 doesn't need a separate power amp. The built-in amp should suffice. If you still desire more power/bass, then you'll need another MFW-15 ... or, heaven forbid, a 3rd one. :rock:

You are correct. Wasn't thinking clearly. MFW is not a passive subwoofer. Despite that, I do wonder if a more powerful amp would make a difference.

I think the MFW is alright at the moment. I want something more though. It seems to be lacking something...can't quite put my fingers on it. I have always been a fan of JL Audio...might have to look for someone to build me a DIY using JL Audio.

[blackzarg]

I am just not comfortable with 1 yr warrenties with Refurbished items....since my Onkyo pooped out on me after 1.5 yrs and it was a new one.

Did you give Onkyo a call? The warranty for their new receivers are 2 years...

My family uses an Onkyo TX-SR876 to power the Rockets and an MFW-15 and it sounds great (yes, it does get a tad warm, though). FIngers crossing it doesn't burn up and die =) We do have a Mack extended warranty on it, though, so I'm hoping it lasts > 5 years.

[calnbs]

Did you give Onkyo a call? The warranty for their new receivers are 2 years...

My family uses an Onkyo TX-SR876 to power the Rockets and an MFW-15 and it sounds great (yes, it does get a tad warm, though). FIngers crossing it doesn't burn up and die =) We do have a Mack extended warranty on it, though, so I'm hoping it lasts > 5 years.

I didn't want to ship it back and forth to Onkyo's repair service center so I used my Warrenty from a third party. They didn't want to fix it either so they just told me that they are going to give me back all my money. I was hoping they had a repair service near me but no luck. Good thing I didn't have to pay shipping to send it back to get my refund.

I guess I'm going to give Marantz a shot and see what happens.