Hi John,yes the underlying theme is that sometimes I prefer 2-ch music. I will definitely be keeping my multi-channel set-up.

Over time i would replace my ep-175 with probably the ep-500
and the 175 would go to the 2-ch room.

I would still need a set of speakers for the 2-ch room ( m100's?)

The reason for this is that I could (and sometimes do ) "tie" up the HT for hours listening to music. So to share/compromise I may have to have a music room.

I blame Axiom for turning me into an audio junkie

I'm starting with the amps because I have a good set of speakers (60's) to run and I can't afford to do the whole shot at once. Hopefully the g.f. is too busy watching movies to notice the cost of the 2-ch system