I am truly gun-shy about eBay nowadays. I think many people are as characterized on The Simpsons where Homer purchased a cowbell off of eBay. It broke in his hands after ringing it and he yelled "Damn you eBay!".
Any way I had purchased my Monitor Audio GR-60s off of eBay after making sure that the speakers were in new-mint condition. When I received them the base plinths were all beat up and they were missing the gold cones and floor discs. I had to go the way of an insurance claim to make things right, however the fault was not the shipping service, it was the seller. The point is that eBay is not what it used to be and deals are few and far between. You do not get what you pay for. Too many people selling on eBay are deceptive and just try to sell their abused goods. This of course is just based on my experience. I have had a lot of good experience on eBay as well. You really have to do you research on the seller. If they don't respond to your emails or edit your email so that they are not answering the original question or they have ANY negative feedback, move on.

That being said, if you can find eBay sellers in your area, that would be ideal so at least you can inspect the equipment. Some of this equipment is just too much money to not get what you are expecting.

eBay's feedback system does not work either. You can not leave feedback after three months. If a transaction takes longer than three months due to a problem that requires action by the seller, good luck in getting any further cooperation after leaving negative feedback at the three month mark.

I was tempted to buy an Anthem PVA-7 off eBay but received no response to my questions about the product. (alarm bells ringing). Too much "buyer beware" for big ticket items.


Sooooo, aside from all this paranoia talk about eBay purchases does anyone have any price comparisons between Anthem and Sherbourn? From my local sellers Anthem PVA-7: $3000Cdn plus tax and Sherbourn 7/1250A power amp: $3400Cdn plus tax.

I'd like to hear from those people with experience in going with three channel amps (main left and right and center) and leaving the surrounds to the receiver. Is this marginally acceptable, i.e. do you find it will be a temporary measure versus an acceptable permanent solution? Are the power levels of your receiver the same or close to the separate amp(s)? I currently have a HK AVR-320 (5.1; one of my problem purchases from eBay) but eventually want to move to 7.1

One avenue of thought I had come across stated that purchasing (as an example) an Anthem AVM-30 and using the internal amp(s) of the receiver would yield dramatically better results. This of course was a temporary measure for economic reasons to those who would eventually purchase separate amps.