Upgrade B&W speakers or MArantz Receiver?

The amp costs less and opens the door for you to transition more easily into seperates. You should really recognize a bigger improvement from that than going to a better receiver.

Save the extra money to put towards speakers or the most over looked item; a good preamp.

None of the moves is wrong, but I think starting at the source and working toward the speakers is a more efficient way of hearing what you are doing.

The RB 980 is a good place to start. You could build a reasonable system around that amp.

...and dats da name a dat tune!

First of all, the CDM-1's will be a definite upgrade from the 601's. But B&W Matrix 805's will be a HUGE upgrade from not only the 601's but also the CDM-1's. They come up fairly frequently used at around $800 but sell QUICKLY--you should scour A'gon & E-bay every day.

And IMHO, forget "upgrading" to a Rotel amp. Not that they're bad, but for $800-$1000 (used) I think you have a lot better choices. The top of the line Creek, the small Classe, (101?), the Bryston B60, even the Krell 300i for $1000 I think is better than a Rotel. And lots more choices I'm sure--maybe even an older Plinius.

My point is, you can probably upgrade a couple of levels beyond the gear you're talking about getting w/o spending much more, & move from "mid-mid fi", to a really happening little system.

And yes, sell of the surround stuff & concentrate on 2 channel, esp. if you're on a tight budget. Just my 2 cents!

Thanks for your responses,
The Rotel for $ 800.00 is a receiver with 75 x 5 watts and I was hoping to use it with a Power amp for the fronts and still be able to use it for surrounds without additional amps for the future.
OR I could just get the $ 250.00 used 120 x 2 amp for now and use it with the marantz receiver and try and get a little more cash to find the Matrix or cdms.

Whaja think?