are all amps equal

I have a solution that would give you LOTS of high quality, good-sounding power to your Ushers and solve your crap-cable problem (your current cables will sabotage your upgrades and quest for higher resolution) and stay within your budget.

For the amp, get a pair of Musical Fidelity Mono 550K power amps. These were released at $5K/pair, but Audio Advisor (and I assume, other vendors) are closing them out at half price. That's 550watts per amp for $2500.

These have garnered many rave reviews and are said to be extremely neutral. They can accept either line level or speaker level inputs. Using the speaker level inputs, they retain the characteristics of the amp feeding them.

Secondly, you need to lose the zip cord. There are a couple of good speaker cable and interconnect deals I know of. One
source is HCM Audio, who has AudioQuest GBC speaker cable at about $80/8-foot pair and good interconnects to go with them.

The other source is an eBay store called homenetworksupply. He has the Belkin PureAV Silver series cables at pretty low prices.

Belkin PureAV Silver Series is made of Ohno Continuous Cast monocrystal copper. This is usually pretty expensive, but he has the 4-ft. interconnects for about $18/pair and 8-foot speaker cable with very nice banana terminations for about $65/pair.

I managed to scoop up some 12-foot pairs of these speaker cables from parts-express.com for the ridiculously low $20/pair, down from $130/pair list. Unfortunately they are all gone now, but I have them on my hi-rez 2-channel (primarily analog) rig and they are REALLY good.

So there you have it--550 wpc from Musical Fidelity for $2500 and interconnects and speaker cables made of monocrystal copper for under $100.

As for Bluejeans cable, I haven't used that brand, but I've used interconects made from Canare star-quad, which is the wire stock they use to make their interconnects. I found them to be smooth and musical, but anybody who thinks they're hi-rez is kidding themselves. Those $18 Belkin PureAV Silver interconnects will eat them for lunch, as will just about any interconnect I have in my systems--AudioQuest Black Mamba and Blue Racer (exclusive from Audio Advisor), JPS SuperConductor, and Kimber Hero.

That is the LEAST you should be using with your Ushers.

Being an Usher dealer, I know the BE-718's like power. But, you do have 150W into 8 ohms and 300 into 4 ohms, so that's not your weak point at all especially in your size of room which is similar to mine. Even more power would be better, but you're not close to realizing the potential of your system until you upgrade your cables. The cables are another component of your system and deserve proper attention just like anything else. I use fairly pricey cables in my system (with the BE718's) and feel they are very well worth it, but that's not to say you can't get decent cables without spending a pile of money if you're adverse to spending a large amount on wiring. But, you certainly need much better than what you are using. The cables are by far the weak point with your CD player possibly being next on the list.

I just have problems paying $500 for 6ft. piece of wire.

Get over it, or you'll *never* hear the potential in your Ushers.

Stop thinking of them as "wire." They are passive components, and like anything else, are subject to the same rules of design, quality control, quality of materials, copper purity, signal transfer efficiency, engineering, and ultimately, point of diminishing returns.

I never understood the mentality of buying top quality gear and then thinking that the cables that perform the signal transfer from one component to another are exempt from those basic laws of quality vs. economics.

The very least you should have for your system is Kimber Hero interconnects and 8TC or 12TC speaker cable, or an equivalent from AudioQuest, Cardas, or Analysis Plus. Of course there are many many other cable makers out there, but this would be a good start.

Also, think about adding a high quality outboard DAC to your digital front end. The Onkyo is a highly regarded CD player for the money (and I have their companion A-9555 integrated amp, which is great for the money). Still, if you spent your $2-3K on $250-300/pr interconnects, a $500-600 pair of biwire speaker cables, and a Benchmark DAC-1, Lavry A10, or PS Audio Digital Link III or their new PerfectWave DAC, you'd hear the music as you'd never heard it before. Not more boom and sizzle, but rather loads more of everything in between, where most of the music lives.

I'm a little late joining this thread. At any rate regarding comment on sacrificing clarity for a little more bass, perhaps getting speakers that have their own powered sub would help. Enough people would probably say why don't I crank up the sub and enjoy the thumping action. Yet too much lower frequencies, to me, can cloud clarity. However those really low frequencies, at their proper amount, do come in handy for a limited number of pop music songs (Enya's particularly), and definitely in classical music.

For what it's worth, people who strictly listen to standard rock music might not find it's worth the extra money to pay for top end speakers and amplifiers that can deliver that last ounce of lower frequencies. Say about 80% of the cases with rock music, I barely notice the difference when the sub for each speaker is on vs. when it's off.