Don't throw money at amps?...I respect what you are saying, but even as good as today's receivers are, there is a level of performance in higher end amps & pre/pros that receivers can't achieve. Many of today's receivers achieve (maybe) 80-90% of seperates. It's that last 10-20% of performance that people like Wayne, Georgemrvosser, & myself are searching for.

Yeah, that last 10-20% gets expensive though!!!! ha ha
There is definitely a law of diminishing returns (why do they say returns? it is diminishing bank accounts!!!!) in play here when you go for that last bit of refinement in sound.
But for those of you who have gotten the Triton One, you are most of the way THERE already, ahead of me in that regard.
Enjoy your systems, even if you desire to upgrade, enjoy the ride, the journey and the TUNES/MOVIES along the way!!!!!
And enjoy the new year, God Bless,
Wayne

Understood, please keep the forum updated on equipment you find that delivers that last 10-20% I need something to dream of!!!
Happy New Year!!!

I've evolved my GE/Emo setup over the past few years, migrating originally from Triton 2s w/ SS50s for Center and surrounds, driven by an Anthem MRX 700. Without going through all the incremental steps, I'm now running an Onkyo TX NR 3030 driven 11.1 (or 11.3 depending on how you look at it) with same Triton 2s, replaced the center with a SuperCenterXL, replaced the SS50s as surrounds with Triton 7s, and use the SS50s for the wides and highs, and I added a paradigm Studio 12 subwoofer.

I've also upgraded from purely receiver driven to all Emotiva monoblocks (XPA 1 g2 for R,L,C, XPA-1L for all surrounds), passing through the Emotiva XPA-2 and XPA-5 gen 2 multichannel amps along the way.

Here are my observations during the migration:

Receivers and Amps (to the OP):

* The multichannel XPAs (2 and 5) were noticeable improvements over both the Anthem and Onkyo for power, particularly in clean separation of the channels. The highs also seem to be more prominent, but not overly harsh - just more clean.

* Jumping to monoblocks from the multichannel Emos (first, with XPA 1Ls, then adding the larger XPA 1 Gen 2s) were just as noticeable a jump from the receivers to the multichannel XPA-s. To me, the mono blocks brought an 'aliveness' to the sound. The Emo folks tell me its the Quad differential design of the XPA1 and 1Ls in how they actively drive the speakers.

Speakers:

* The SS50s are very good, but upgrading the SS50C to the SuperCenterXL was a huge improvement. I was quite surprised, actually given how much I liked the SS50s. The SuperCenterXL really provides a seamless center between the Tritons by adding improved mid bass, matching the timbre of the twos.

* The Triton 7's are remarkable, especially given the price. I'm using them as R/L surrounds. At some point I want to A/B them with the twos to compare the mid range. I think I might actually like the mids a bit better on the 7's, but haven't spent enough time really evaluating between the two (I'd rather just continue enjoying movies and music

* I love love love the Twos. I've demoed the Ones but haven't actually demoed in an A/B comparo with the Twos. The Ones are jaw dropping good, but frankly, so are the Twos to my ears. A/B comparo will be needed for me to make the jump, but I suspect the improvement will be worth the cost when my wallet feels a little less stressed

Processing:

* Room Correction: Anthem's ARC is a bit better the Audessey MultEq32, but only marginally to my ears. MultEQ32 is easier to run as you can do it directly in the reciever. ARC requires hooking up a laptop. Room correction is a big deal IMHO. It really makes a huge, positive difference in my rooms.

* I've been doing a lot of comparison between DTS Neo:X and Audessey DSX for 11.x processing- each has its own merits and which is better seems to depend on the source - DTS Neo:X seems to be best with DTS Master HD, while I prefer Audessey with Dolby Digital sources.

* Lately, I've been just sticking with DTS Master HD w/o any 11 channel processing for comparo purposes. both Neo:X and DSX seem to slightly muddy the channels in figuring out what to send to the highs/wides. Given how awesome the Tritons (both 2s and 7s) are at the sound stage they generate, I'm not sure the highs and wides add much value, frankly. I'm saying this in case you're waffling on a 7.1 processor like the emo XMC-1 vs an 11.x processor. A 7.1 setup with GE will work incredibly well and I don't think you'll miss much if you don't have DSX or Neo:X.

* I'm anxious to hear a Dolby Atmos demo. It might be worth holding off on a processor until Atmos is more available and reviewed. From what I've read, Atmos is a big improvement over the matrixing of Neo:X and DSX. DTS supposedly has its own Atmos-like format coming online, so probably worth waiting til the new format wars settle out.

Thanks for the info!!!
I agree, I'm going to let the format wars settle down and content become available before buying. I was considering adding 7's as rear channels. They do sound really good. I replaced a Definitive 8040HD with the SC XL right after I added the T1's, it is a huge difference. Smoothed out the transitions.

Just for fun, I put an Adcom GFA-555 II in the loop for the Triton 1s. Pre-Out from the A1040 to the Adcom . Night and day difference. New sound stage, wider and deeper. Highs are noticeably more crisp and mids are well defined and separated. Lows are even better, more defined and crisp. Running in Pure Direct mode on the Yamaha. I am now looking into adding external amps for the rear channels. So I am now convinced dumping opps investing money into amps is a worthwhile improvement! At least for pure music listening. I will watch some surround 7.1 stuff this weekend. Since the holidays are over and we no longer have company!! I can spend some quality time with the system.

System components:
Front L/R Triton 1s
Center SuperCenter XL
Rear SS 3s

No presence channels yet. Considering adding 7's as rear and moving the 3s as front presence. I am concerned that the ss 3's would be to small as front presence with the 1's in front. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks again for posting.

I think the SS3s are probably fine for presence, providing you have enough power driving them to match properly with driving the T1s. Rerunning the room correction in your A1040 should take care of balancing them with the rest of your rig. My limited understanding of Yamaha's presence channels are they are mostly mid/upper frequencies, and aren't as prominent as the standard channels, so so you should be fine with SS3s.

In my setup, I'm driving my heights with the receiver (haven't yet sprung for external amps for those channels yet and probably won't until I migrate to the next gen pre/pro). Assuming heights are roughly equivalent to Yammy's presence channels, they are definitely driven at a lower gain and don't get the full frequency spectrum, so my Onkyo (145watt/ch) has no trouble matching them to my Triton twos, which are being driven by Emo XPA-1 G2s (600watt/ch).