I was thinking about getting the gemstone blue diamond 7.1 amp to go with my yamaha 1400. After looking at various other amps I saw the Crown XLS 402A Power Amplifier (400w @ 4 ohms). Would this amp be sufficient. I could pick it up for $300. I realize i'd have to buy 4 of them for 7 channels but that would still be half the price of the blue diamond. Is this amp high enough quality for ht? What are the advantages or disadvantages of going with the crowns over the blue diamond other than space savings?

My setup will be:

yamaha 1400
vp150
2 mt80's
4 qs8
dual svs 16-46 cs-plus subs
amp ?????

I'm going to be building a ht room in my new house 20x25x9. No windows or openings.

all input is appreciated. Thanks, Steve

Sufficient for what? Knocking your house down?! Damn, dude, 400 watts should be more than sufficient. The only downsides to the Crowns I know if is that some of them have fans.

I would suggest a higher quality 2 channel amp to run the M80s.You could use the Yamaha to power the rest of the system.Something like the Rotel Rb 1070 or the Parasound Hca 1000a.Either one of these amps would get ya some pretty serious sound.Both these amps will give you around 200 watts @ 4 ohm. If ya want to step it up a notch the Rotel RB 1080 and the Parasound Hca 1500a would give ya around 300 @ 4 ohm.

I had the opportunity to watch the Rotel 1095 effortlessly drive some Martin Logans at a homeshow yesterday.
Very nice sound indeed.

I would expect someone to confirm this but, while researching similar, someone suggested;

http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/200.html

This brand is internet sold as Axium speakers are. They sell the individual, single channel, 200 watt @8ohms or 300 watt @ 4ohms amps to add to your receiver.
My thoughts would need to be varified by one of the local experts, but you could power your mains with these and use a smaller 100 watt multi channel for the rest of the speakers.

He could very well use the Outlaw mono blocks but there would be no need for the 100 watt multi channel amp.The Yamaha is already rated at 110 x 7.He could just use the Yamahas amps to drive the rest of the system