Emotiva or Anthem or Something Else?

Thanks again. Its a good thing I’m asking! What I currently have is as follows:

Receiver: Pioneer VSX 822. (I was going to get rid of this)

Speakers are:

Warfedale Diamond 9.0 and 9.1 for the rear L/R and Front L/R

1 x Martin Logan Motion SLM XL for the center channel

4 x Martin Logan ML 67i in the ceiling

4 x 10" Self powered Sub Woofers that I built. All of them are in the walls and are 10" because that is all I could fit in the walls. They are in their own 1 cu ft enclosures and each one is powered by a dedicated DSP enabled amp.

I also have an old pair of Polk Monitor 5 Jr + speakers that I bought new when I was in High School in the 80’s. I was actually never really all that happy with how they sounded. I always thought that my friends Infinity RS 3000 sounded better. But I’ve had them for years. May tweak them a bit. When I was in college one of my friends got an NAD Amp and a pair of Rogers speakers that sounded really spectacular.

I’ve been considering several options. One is an NAD receiver and then adding on an NAD two channel power amp. That set up would be an NADT778 + an NAD C 275BEE. I would also need an NAD C268 to power one pair of the ceiling speakers as the NAD doesnt have 4 powered channels.

What is tricky is that I want to use the subs for both the stereo listening as well as the home theater listening.

I’ve been considering several options. One is an NAD receiver and then adding on an NAD two channel power amp. That set up would be an NADT778 + an NAD C 275BEE. I would also need an NAD C268 to power one pair of the ceiling speakers as the NAD doesnt have 4 powered channels.…What is tricky is that I want to use the subs for both the stereo listening as well as the home theater listening.

No.  Just, no.  Listen to me — get a decent AVR like Yamaha and then add a really good stereo integrated.  You’re going down a bad path.  NAD may be convenient but is not your friend.  Buy a Yammy AVR and a great integrated from Hegel, Pass, Yamaha, Ayre, etc. and you’ll be MUCH better off.  Why the fixation with NAD?  

NAD is just one possibility. I’ve heard NAD amps in the past and I was impressed by the sound quality. But open to others.

Similarly, I heard an Anthem 740 at a local shop and it sounded pretty good too.

In the set up you are describing would I have two different pairs of front speakers?

Is it possible to incorporate the subs into the stereo configuration? What I’m really looking to do is a 2.1 set up for music listening. It looks like the Hegel Integrated Amp has line out so thats one way it could work, however how could I have the subs as part of the home theater configuration also?

In the set up you are describing would I have two different pairs of front speakers?

No.  But the only thing hooked up to your front L/R speakers would be the integrated amp.  You ask a great question about how to incorporate subs, and I honestly haven’t figured that out but maybe someone else here has a suggestion.  I would, however, recommend doing a 2.2 stereo system instead of 2.1 if you can — 2 subs much better than one.

Questions:

1.) In your suggested set up, when we are watching a movie is the integrated amp powering the two front channel speakers?

2.) When I am listening to the two channel configuration I assume that I am controlling the volume using the volume control on the stereo amp?

3.) For integration of the Subs... yes, I am attempting a 2.2 configuration with two subwoofers.  The subwoofers are self powered and I can set crossover points and filters.   If the stereo integrated amp as a line out L/R then I should be able to plug those subs into the integrated amp and then have a 2.2 system... correct?  For example take this one....