Advice needed for upgrades

[Nate]

I am just starting to put my home theater together, and I need some advice about additions to my system. First of all, I have a RSX-1055. I want to go to 7.1, and I want a good amp to run along with the 1055. Could I just use the 1055 to run the back speakers, and use a large amp to run the others??

Also, I have one subwoofer right now, and I have heard many people talking about two subs and how much better it sounds. Is that true? If so, do you need to stay with exactly the same sub for the second one??

Thanks for the help. I am VERY pleased with the 1055 so far and how it handles my B&W speakers. Man, buying this stuff is addicting....

[Andrew Pratt]

I am just starting to put my home theater together, and I need some advice about additions to my system. First of all, I have a RSX-1055. I want to go to 7.1, and I want a good amp to run along with the 1055. Could I just use the 1055 to run the back speakers, and use a large amp to run the others??

Yes that's exactly what I'd do. Buy a nice 2 channel amp for the mains and use the 1055's internal amps to power the other speakers. The 1055 has a redirect function that allows you to use the front two amps to power rear speakers. Another idea is to get a 5 channel amp and take even more load of the 1055's amps. This would be more costly though but would also be more flexible (you could add a second zone this way)

Also, I have one subwoofer right now, and I have heard many people talking about two subs and how much better it sounds. Is that true? If so, do you need to stay with exactly the same sub for the second one??

Well that really depends. Adding two identical subs located side by side will generally couple them together and give you a nice boost in SPL (volume). But louder isn't always better if the sub isn't very good to begin with. Lets assume you have a sub that can extend down to 30 hz. Adding another will get you more volume down to 30 but you're still going to be missing the sub 30 LFE. If that's the case I'd strongly consider selling the first sub and buying a single better subwoofer that can both play loud and extend down deep.