Opinion on whether to dump Rotel for HK or vice versa?

[Stevebez]

Guys,

I am in process if buying a house which has a dedicated HT room already built. It has Vidikron projector (think its model 12). It also has a Harmon Kardon amp (my guess is its a receiver) with HK DVD and a bunch of creston lighting features (but thats not important here) ... Not sure if I should replace the HK kit for my Rotel kit.

My existing kit is Arcam 88+ DVD, 1068, 1075, 1092 and 803D's B&W & some Boston Micros, Velo DD12.

Not sure what brand speakers they got but they have a big Speakercraft (?) sub at rear of room (?) guess an 18" (Edit: must be the 12" as they dont make bigger than 12"), and could not tell what the sides / rears or front are - possibly same brand.

The system comes with a neat rack mount stand as well.

Any thots on the HK kit to start with - sorry dont have model numbers either the picture I took of the kit was out of focus.

Rgds Steve.

[apodaca]

Steve I used to own an AVR 635 receiver that I replaced with Rotel RSX 1056. I had already added an RB 1070 to the mix. I would have to say that based on my experience they did sound different. The soundstage differed in thet Rotel was/is more upfront and has extended highs (this is sometimes a problem as many here have indicated they like the ned digital amps one reason being the slightly rolled off high end), and it did have more 'palpable presence'. Harman was definitely better equiped in terms of features and I absolutely think Logic 7 can often enhance the experience of stereo CDs. A beefier unit like the 7300 might close the gap some more and. Only way to get the most out of Harman is to go with their flagship. Lexicon has it all but the price differential is too high. If harman came out with some separates.......

[Stevebez]

OK just visited HK site and really the offering is rather woefull.

At best I will use the HK stuff as a distribution amp for the house as a whole or bin them to finance some more Rotel kit. Definately keeping the Rotel Kit and will be looking to build a system as folllows :-

3 x 1092's (maybe 4 since the value on a 1091 does not seem justified).
1 x 1091 (conditional as per above) The 1075 gets booted ? or ?
set 0f 802D's for fronts ... 803D's move to rear.
2 x DD18 Velo's ... the DD12 & Speakercraft gets booted.

Need to check out the existing surround speaker setup but I doubt if it can cater for the 109X series power ... HK max system is a 110 w / ch setup.

Any thots ? Or is this OTT ... room dimensions are 25.5' x 20' with peaked vaulted ceiling so volume is substantial.

Any thots on a centre speaker and rears as will definately be going to 7.1 now from 5.1. existing surrounds are Boston Micros ... ops: