need amp advice

i would say throw the yamaha in the ocean and buy the two cj pieces that just showed up on audigon. i think the seller is telescope trader. i do not know who this is but i can tell you that would make you a nice little system.

Ditto above, OR ("overkill"), buy yourself a GOOD PRE for Xmas and keep the Yamaha as a power amp for now. There are many (used) options in yr price-range, Adcom being one, Plinius another, cj yet another.

IMO, buy yourself THE BEST PRE for yr ears that yr pocket can endure (take a look at my post to yr other thread, if you wish).
Cheers

The pre amp is more important then the amplifier and actually amplifies the signal more percentage wise then the amplifier. I would start with a good preamp.

Another possibility might be to buy a good integrated 2 channel amp for the music and use a speaker switch to switch the two main speakers to run either off the Yamaha or off the integrated.

$1000 will buy a nice integrated .... Creek, Cyrus, Audiolab, Densen, Arcam, Adcom, even Rotel. Speaker switches run about $100. That way your main speakers can be used for both HT with the Yamaha in command and 2 channel music with the integrated at the helm.

are you guys sure your not getting carried away? I'm talking about using a Cambridge D500SE source with Soliloquy 5.3 speakers.

I know receivers are not exactly welcome in high-end audio, but the Yamaha is a pretty good receiver. There's not much difference in the RXV- 995 and RXV- 2095, or the RXV-3000 for that matter except bells and whistles.

My local dealer recommends I keep the Yamaha and buy an amp, not an amp and another pre-amp. I appreciate your opinions, but if getting the fiance' to accept the Soliloquy over the cheaper paradigms wasn't easy... telling her I need another pre-amp and need to ditch won't fly.