I have a stereo system with an HK AVR 240 receiver that drives 3 pairs of speakers simutaneously through a speaker selector. It is plenty of power for the two rooms in the house (M22s with Velodyne CHT-8 sub in one room, in-ceiling speakers in the other) but I find that it comes up a little short in filling up the pool area and 60 acres of neighborhood woods/greenspace behind the house. (I'm obviously not intending to fill all the woods with sound, but I would like the outdoor area immediately behind the house to have better sound)
Part of the problem is the outdoor speakers which are made by Dual - I forget the model #. At the time we bought them Axiom didn't make outdoor speakers and of all the speakers we heard at Circuit City and Best Buy they sounded the best. The fact that they were only $60 and sounded better than Bose, Polk, Infinity, etc. that cost up to $500 was just a bonus.
At this point, when the volume is at maximum the outdoor speakers only get to "It's a little difficult to hear you over the music" levels - which is fine as far as my wife is concerned... but I'd like to have the option of turning it up to "I have to scream to speak to you when we are 40 feet from the speakers" level.
At some point, I plan to upgrade to Algonquins, but I also think I need to upgrade the power supply. I have looked at the Outlaw 2200 M monoblocks and the Emotiva XPA-2 and they are roughly the same price (2 2200s = $700, XPA-2 = $799). My question for this esteemed group is: Which will serve my needs better - and is there something else that would either serve my needs better or be less expensive or both?
