[Lord Essex]

Hi All,

I'm very happy with my setup, so of course I'm now starting to think about my next move. At the moment my setup is:

Arcam AV8
Arcam P1000
Arcam A85 (this is used in power amp mode)
Arcam P80
Arcam CD82
Denon 3800 blu ray

Speakers
Linn Ninka front L/R 3way active
Linn Ekwal centre 2 way active
Linn 104's sides
Linn 104's rears
B&w asw610 sub

To run my setup as 7.1 I need a minimum of 12 channels of power, at the moment I only have 11 channels so I have my 2 rear speakers connected in series to make it 6.1.
I've got around £700 to play with and I was thinking that a used P7 would make sense. If I used the P7 with the P1000 I would have 14 channels leaving me able to sell the A85 & P80. However a local dealer suggested that as long as I have the rack space I would achive a better sound if I sold the P1000 and replace it with 4x P85/80's which would give me a total of 6 stereo amps giving me the 12 channels that I need for 7.1

Would anyone care to comment on the above or perhaps suggest a different route for my next move. Replace my AV8 or switch my Denon Blu ray player?

All views are warmly welcomed

[Mark.Yudkin]

Ignoring budget limitations, your dealer is probably right. But surely 12 P1's is the only sensible way to go, everything else being a compromise?

[RumNYC]

Sell the P1000 and get a pair of Linn 6100

You can get some Linn aktiv cards as well and get the best out of the linn speakers.

Will match your speakers and should be a sonic upgrade...

[Lord Essex]

I would love to get a pair of Linn 6100 just one small problem, I don't have the £5500 needed . My budget to improve the setup is £700-£1000.
I'm already running the front three speakers in aktiv mode and agree that it makes a massive difference.

[larkone]

Swap the A85 out for a P85/3 then you will have enough power amp channels and some budget left for new music/films.

[Philw101]

Personally I would either go as Larkone said with the P85/3 or a P7 Amp - my P7 was a superb purchase and certainly didn't regret it. Shame it doesn't have balance inputs however!

[Lord Essex]

I picked up a P7 a couple of months ago and I'm very pleased with it

[Philw101]

Perfect - how does it compare to your previous setup? You biamping your fronts?

[Lord Essex]

My front left/right are three way aktiv so I'm using 6 channels from the P7 to look after them. My centre is 2 way aktiv so the last channel from the P7 plus one from the P1000 takes care of that.

The best way I can describe the improvement in sound quality is that the P7 just seems to give me "more" bass,detail,soundstage

[Philw101]

Originally Posted by Lord Essex

My front left/right are three way aktiv so I'm using 6 channels from the P7 to look after them. My centre is 2 way aktiv so the last channel from the P7 plus one from the P1000 takes care of that.

The best way I can describe the improvement in sound quality is that the P7 just seems to give me "more" bass,detail,soundstage

Glad you are enjoying the P7 - I found I could up the volume (even past reference) and still manage to keep the small subtle dynamics from lowers volumes. Superb quality amp - and what a bargain price you got yours for!

Just a quick thought with regards to the centre is it wise to mix amplifiers between the same speaker?

[Lord Essex]

Using the two amps is not a problem as I am using a Linn Tunebox (this is basically a box that houses the crossover cards) This keeps the bass/mid/treble channels all separate and as long as each channel is powered by an amp with the same gain there is no problem.

And I am very happy with the price I paid