I'm confused

I looked briefly and could not find the impedance of your speakers. Please check and post for us-8 ohms, 6 ohms, 4 ohms?

Double check your settings and be sure the speakers are set to "small". Make sure you are dumping as much as possible to the subwoofer. Downside here is your subwoofer will get overloaded, big time. A subwoofer capable of handling all your lower frequency needs is a great place to start. The low frequency range uses the vast majority of you receivers available power.

Turn off all the "loudness" buttons, built in eq's ect. These things can do major damage.

I have some confusion on the 5.1/7.1 details of your system. Honestly, physically remove the extra two speakers and start with a 5.1 system. For your room size this is especially important. I am not big on 7.1/6.1 for a few reasons, others have stated reasons in this tread. Currently I have all the gear to run these setup and choose not to. Removing these speakers will free up power for you receiver. Don't leave the speakers in this room, unused speakers do really weird things to the acoustics of the room.

Most cost effective solution-find a different hobby. Only joking. A three channel amp for the front three is the best place to start in my opinion.

The first place to start is to understand why an amplifier clips. Simplistically I believe the answer is the unit runs out of power. The straight truth here is the Denon is a very small unit. This is a given truth with any receiver. True, some on the largest models will "rock", but for the price one can do better.

A dedicated outlet/line is a line that runs directly from the circuit breaker to the outlet you plug things into. One always needs to install/have installed these lines. Finding out which outlets are on which lines and not plugging anything but HT gear helps, but is not dedicated. Not having the fridge/window ac on these same circuits is a big plus.

I seems from your original post you are willing to spend a few bucks. If want to crank thing up, start with separate amplification. If your looking for all the minor details in movies, sound separation ect. start looking at a dedicated processor(Outlaw mention). Your current Denon will perform all these functions currently, just not the amplification to suit your needs.

The power clean up posts are very valid, I just don't think your at this point. I think you have reached the available power limits on your Denon and are wanting more.

Good luck,
Marty

Lej: I have seen and heard these speakers. The installation was far from optimum and we only listened for a brief period of time. They are a relatively unique design, that is for sure. Sean
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Marty9876,
Sorry for I forgot to post, but the impedance is 8 ohms. Given such, should I change the setting for speakers on AVR to "small" per your recommendation? I figure out the advantage, but what is the disadvantage?

Is power conditioner a highly recommended gear for a 7-ch amp or even 3-ch powerful amp, especially when there is no dedicated outlet? Get rid of my Monster powerbar?

If I go w/ the separates like Outlaw, is it worth the money? Can most peoples ears differentiate the improvement in quality, especially when you mention minutes details in recording?

Lej1447, as I said previously if your speakers are currently set to "large", before considering any further purchases I would definitely recommend changing them to "small" then take the time to evaluate your system.

If the 8.3s are reproducing full-range sound, they may be struggling during transient spikes and dynamic movie scenes. Using the Denon's bass management to set the crossover in the 80-100Hz area would definitley help ease the workload on the 8.3s. Let the sub handle the dirty work!

If you feel you're still experiencing this same problem, then consider buying a good three-channel amp for your front speakers. As some of the previous posters have mentioned, having matching speakers AND power across the front is important for timbre matching and good panning/steering.

Try the cheap fixes first!

Large/Small: A "Large" speaker is one which receives a full range of sound, 32Hz to 20Khz basically. A "Small" speaker setting is one in which the pre amp/processor routes the low frequencies, say 80Hz and below to the subwoofer. This is a ball park guesestimate, others please correct if totally off base, but I think the vast majority of the receivers available power(75%) is used to create the low frequencies, ~80Hz and below.

With your setup I see a few problems. One, you have a subwoofer, let it do it's job with the low frequencies. Two, your receiver is simply not capable of creating these low frequencies at the volume level you desire. Also creating these frequencies from both your subwoofer and main speakers does really weird/bad things. What can happen is the two can cancel each other out. So all this hard works ends up being canceled out by the time the sound reaches your ear.

Think of it this way, your subwoofer has a built in amplifier just to these low frequencies(150watt) and your are also trying to do these plus everything else with it's built in 90 watt amplifier, 5 times over. NOTE:You subwoofer will have it's limits, I guessing these limits will be below your desires(next thread..:).

Power coordinators-I'm all for power conditioners. Given this situation I would advise you forget about this and focus on the core components. Amps/subs/speakers/processors. If the power at your wall is fairly clean, power conditioners will have a much lesser effect. How do we know if the power is clean/dirty...still have not figured this one out. Did a thread on this and was left thinking I should just call NASA. IT all comes down to trail and error with power conditioners.

If your serious about working on the power issue I strongly suggest installing/having installed a dedicated line or two. Dollar for dollar I have yet to find a tweak that improved my personal system as much. Some people can hear grass grow, I can't. I heard a big improvement when I did this one. Plus the cost can be far less than most power conditioners. Don't be afraid to try your system with out any power conditioners, you might be surprised.

Separates: I think most people can hear a large improvement. Just an opinion. Plus you can upgrade only the component(processor/amp) you desire instead of being forced to upgrade both at once. It's funny, if you look into your receiver you will see a big transformer, big heavy metal thingy plus all the other circuitry. In a stand alone amp, that is all thats in the box, and it takes up the whole box.

Outlaw: I have never heard this gear. No clue, everybody seems to give high praise here on the web about this gear. I think they have a return policy, I assume your stuck paying to ship it at least one direction if not two.

8 ohms=good for receiver.

Marty