need amp advice

from what i've heard, this speaker is amp sensitive, that is with some amps it will sound boomy/shrill etc. with others it will sound wonderful. matching the amp to the speaker it in my opinion critical. there is a lot of info in this forum and in audioasylum on this speaker you should look at before you make any conclusions re what your upgrade, and future ones should be. good luck.

The 5.3s are very revealing in exposing the characteristics of upstream components. I agree with many of the above posts that the preamp is probably more critical at this point, especially since the 5.3s present a relatively benign load to amps.

I also agree that you should take some stuff home for a demo, and the decision will likely become an easy one. I'd highly recommend trying the Adcom GFA-750 preamp as it's very transparent and also has a home theater pass through feature that will let you seamlessly integrate it with your Yamaha, which can continue to do the surround processing for movies and surround music. You can then add a stereo amp later for the L/R fronts, which will leave you with high-end components throughout the critical stereo path while your Yamaha powers the center/rears and does surround processing.

As far as amps go(if you go that route instead), I'd consider Sim Audio, which Soliloquy has used to voice their speakers. I'm using a McCormack DNA-0.5 Rev. A that is in your price range(used of course) and works exremely well with the 5.3s--highly recommended if you can find one. Since you're obviously using your system for HT as well as stereo I won't bother with tubes.

As a fellow owner of 5.3s I can tell you that proper placement will be as or more important than your components in getting the most out of these speakers and your system. In my experience they don't really open up in terms of the soundstage and midrange unless you get them around 4 ft.(or more) from the back wall. This may not be possible in your situation, but the point is don't neglect speaker placement in your quest for better sound. Best of luck.

Tim

Now that you mention it, I'm a little worried about speaker placement. I move quite a bit with my job and who knows if I'll always be able to get them away from the wall enough. No way will my fiance' go for 4ft from the wall. One mistake I made was buying a 57" widescreen instead of a 50"-53" widescreen. The 57" overcrowds my 17 x 18 living room a little. The room is open past 18 feet except for a 5ft patition that seperaters another room and prevents putting furniture there.

I usually don't like monitors on stands, takes up as much room as a slim floorstander and without the bass.

Soliloquy sounds great with tubes. Try a Rogue 88, often on sale here for about $850.

Hi Gunbunny. Actually, I believe ALL the pieces of a system are very important. It will only be as good as your weakest component. And I agree with some of the other members here that it is your Yamaha.

3 1/2 years ago I dove into HT building a system around a Marantz AV550 pre/pro and an ATI AT1505 amp. Even though I never owned a single piece of high end 2-channel gear in my life, I KNEW this setup wasn't cutting it for me musically.

For the last two years I have been bitten by the audio bug big time! I still have my original HT gear, but have built a separate music system all together. Musically the two systems shouldn't even be compared.

My feeling is that when you replace your preamp and possibly your amp sometime in the future, then you'll really see how good your Soliloquy 5.3s are. You'll be amazed. Another option though is to get a preamp with HT pass through and use the Yamaha's amp for both music and HT.

I'm sorry this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I learned a few years back that for me I could never get satisfying music from an HT system. And I feel a bit guilty in suggesting you take this path because if you get snagged like me, you'll end up spending way more than you ever thought you would. Buy used gear if you can.

Good luck!