I'm looking purchasing a new receiver in the next week or two here. I'm looking at the Rotel RSX-1067 or the Arcam AVR300. Has anyone had any experience with either of these receivers? And how well do you think they mix with the Axiom line. I use M60s, QS8s, M2s, and a VP150.

Thanks much!

Craig (spiffnme) has always seemed very pleased with his Rotel gear.

I like to mix up RoTel with cream cheese. I've never eaten any of that Arcam stuff; do you have to peel it first or what?

I don't have their receiver, I've got the 1066 processor and the 1075 amp, but I've been nothing but thrilled with it. I've heard nothing but good things about those new receivers though. The 1067 is Rotel's only 7 channel piece of equipment too.

Any thoughts on the Outlaw 950/7100 combo as an option? My fear is a bright sound. With the Arcam, my fear is too mellow for movies.
The Rotel has a lot of power, but is it a good match with the Axiom line being a forward sounding receiver? Would it be too much?

The Outlaw 950 is pretty dated, and does not have some of the later processing modes.

I would suggest looking at the higher end HK receivers, along with the Rotel and Arcam.

I recently heard M60's driven by a Sherwood/Newcastle R-965 and it sounded great. I use the pre/pro version of the R-965, the P-965 with ATI amps with my Ascends.....also works well, and the support has been outstanding.

I would also look at the H/K receivers. I have the bottom of the line AVR130 and am completely blown away (in my tiny appartment livingroom, anyways).

It even made my crappy speakers from my old daewoo mini system sound pretty good... well, as good as a 4" woofer and a 1/2" tweet can sound... Also it has so many options...man I wish I could afford a 7300/m-80s... and a ep 600 and a MX-700... then I think that the neighbours would REALLY hate me...

I guess I've been there and done that. I had the H/K AVR630. It was a great receiver. Good power. Good sound. I wasn't impressed with its matrixing of sound though. I have a 7.1 system and any time I upconverted from 5.1 it didn't do that great a job. Otherwise, in 5.1 it was steller.

Have you heard 7.1 that sounded amazingly better than 5.1?

I never have.

It wasn't so much the sound, it was how the receiver processed it. My current Yamaha does much better in the processing department. But my gripe is it sounds a little on the "digital" side. This is where the H/K was better. It had a more analog (real) sound to it. But...I'm off to try something different.
To answer, yes. LOTR EE movies are in 6.1...and playing it in 7.1 is just as good. Also Star Wars movies that play in DD-EX sound great. As well as Disney and Pixar movies.

I have always been of the opinion that a well setup 5.1 system gives up very little to a 7.1 system.

I went from 5.1 to 7.1....it sounds nice, but not a big enough difference to write home about.

That's exactly how I've felt.

Me to. I was 9.1 to 7.1 and now I'm back to 5.1 and more then happy................if it's possible for me to ever be happy!

Misfit, I have the Arcam AVR300 with a 5.1 M60 setup and it's a great system. One of these days I'll get around to bi-amping the front M60s to see if it makes a difference to my ears. We live in an apartment, so we can't play at ear-bleeding levels, so bi-amping may be pointless.

Quality, flexibility and sound quality of the AVR300 is excellent. I've used a Home Theater MX700 universal remote to control everything. Good luck on your search.