Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Getting a new amp solution for my LFR1100's

Random comments :

1. You're going to get more people jumping up and down about amp upgrades vs speaker upgrades for the simple reason that the "generally accepted range of different experiences" is much wider for speakers than for amps, maybe by 5:1 or 10:1.

2. I haven't had the greatest luck with any receiver's auto-setup, so the first thing I usually do is turn it off and get out a manual SPL meter. This has been more difficult since my SPL meter disappeared into the dark corners of my brother-in-law's basement.

I would suggest that auto-setup introduces a degree of randomness you probably don't need at this point. Subject to being jumped on by others, my guess is that you've done enough listening tests to be able to match speaker levels by ear as well as the auto-setup can do.

3. I've been mucking with audio systems for ~35 years and continue to be astounded by how much difference the room (placement, FRP treatments, other treatments) makes. More than the speakers, but not a lot more.

I guess the important distinction with amps is between (a) getting a sufficiently powerful amp to replace a not-sufficiently-powerful one (where the difference is huge) and (b) replacing a sufficiently powerful amp with a "better" sufficiently powerful amp (where differences seem to exist but are much more subtle, maybe 20:1 or higher).