I think there are a couple of very happy Parasound Halo owners on the boards. One ended up getting Halos because his Outlaw multichannel amps were having a tough time keeping up with sustained high volumes into M80s.
EDIT -- I should mention that the Outlaw Monoblocks never had a heat problem, just the 7 channel driving 5 M80s and a couple of QS8s real loud. In some states that would be considered abuse, but apparently not in California
In terms of where to spend your money, it seems that up to a point (say $3K for speakers) you get the best bang for the buck by spending more on speakers than on electronics, after that all I can say is there is less agreement on what you get for the extra $$
I think my system spending was about typical if you want some numbers. Very roughly, in $CDN not including tax, I spent :
- 21% ($1500) for receiver and DVD/CD player
- 51% ($3700) for speakers (including subwoofer)
- 28% ($2000) for display (projector + DIY screen)
In this price range I would partition money about the same way if I were doing it over again, ie I would spend relatively more on speakers than electronics.
