Don't worry too much about specifications, they will not tell you how a speaker sounds. Low frequency specs are difficult to measure and compare to real world installations (non-anechoic). Don't but a speaker by the spec sheet, take some time and listen to the speakers you are interested in, that's the best way. Thanx, Russ

Congrats on the H3s. Did you see the new lacewood H3s on e-bay, sweet deal. Anyway, I'm not sure one el84 is enough to drive the Heresys. I have a Jolida integrated that has two el84s per side and it can be a little weak at times. My 25 watt Quicksilver monos are much stouter, plenty loud for me. You might also look into a small sub. I guess if it was me, I'd use the Onkyo for now, get a small sub and then I would shop around for a really good tube integrated like a Prima Luna or AES superamp

[quote user="niketurk"]ok this is a 14x28 theater room and cant have floor standing speakers [/quote] If you can't put a huge speaker on each side of the screen it's no theater room! Thanx, Russ

I'm not changing formats again. It took me 30 years to replace most of my old vinyl with CDs. I don't think music downloading is something that I'll want to do unless that is the only way left to buy music. The experts keep saying the CD is dead but I just can't see that happening quite yet. How long will it be before I walk in WalMart and find the CD racks empty? Thanx, Russ

Glenn, You'll be back working in no time. A whole new world of opportunities is open to you. Anybody that has an employment history like yours will have no trouble landing a good job. Good luck, enjoy the new experiences coming your way. Thanx, Russ

The sofa! My GTO and my motorbikes are just wasting away in the garage. Thanx, Russ

Sorry to nit pick but it's easier if we all talk the same language. A Scott 299 is an integrated amp right? I see threads all the time where the word amp is used for a receiver, lets all get on the same page, an amp is a basic amp, either mono or multichannel. A integrated amp has control features (i.e. volume) and a receiver has a tuner. Anyway a cheap integrated amp you might look at is the lower level Jolida, mine sounds fairly nice. Thanx, Russ

OK guys I'm a little slow. I have a large (for me) CD collection and I like the CD format. I like having the physical disc and the packaging and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to play my CDs for many years to come. If you store your downloaded music on hard drives or memory cards how are you guarding against data loss? How do you even remember what you have? Thanx, Russ

[quote user="Mallette"]However, the nuances of certain instruments, like a violin, require engineering and delivery at quality levels where CD is the minimum. [/quote] I'm 100 percent behind this statement. The minimum playback system always being the best commonly available technology. That's Vinyl and CD's right now. Thanx, Russ

Tubes for sure. The RF's are fine loudspeakers and sound just as sweet with good gear on the front end. I think that the lower cost RF's are quite the overachievers. I put some VERY good gear in front of my RF-25s (way better than most guys here would think of using) and was surprised how well they sounded. Thanx, Russ