I supposed 1910 at this price is considered cheap.

IMHO If your waiting for new product launch to lower the current price of existing AVR is kinda a waste of time. When new product comes, price tag for it is gonna be sky high cause its new and also to provide time for shop to clear their older model.

As for the price of the previous model wont drop much till the new hardware get abit older (2-3 month after launch).

If your on a very tight budget, why not considered 2nd unit or Demo unit? Those are relatively cheaper (User's upgrading or shop willing to clear old stock) but do test properly if your going that way. Never know when you might get a faulty unit.

For the shop i have no experience with them so no comment there.

To fully utilise 7.1 today, most AVR do that thru HDMI only. Analog audio input are getting rarer by the day. If you are upgrading your AVR why not upgrade your sound card too. Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 will output 5.1/7.1 (DD TrueHD / DTS MA ) bitstream to your new avr to be decoded thru HDMI (provided you use TMT player to play your files)

Just my dua cent 

Its seems to me your trying to fit everything into 1 package (Gaming PC / HTPC / HT Set). HT set do not accommodate serious gaming very well (Xfi and such). What i would suggest is segregating everything out.

1. Run Games thru a separate system to take advantage of 5.1/7.1
2. Bitstream HD audio thru ATI to AVR for HTPC functions.

For the rest of your questions, i dont have 9 speakers to test (i only have 5.1) so i cant really comment.

My set-up currently is based on my connections

1. Work - nothing connected (running on notebook only)
2. Games - HDMI to Monitor and Optical S/PDIF to AVR
3. XBMC and Blu-ray Playback - HDMI to AVR (bitstream) to LCD TV

I have a HDMI splitter so i can switch between Monitor and AVR.

Maybe you can try something like that? 

What speakers that you are keen to get?

I think if speakers are good for music it's likely they'd be good for movies. but not vice versa

thing is, speakers that are good for music is more expensive - especially if you want to get surround.

yes ! yes !
DALI, PSB & Focus Audio

this (better mains+dipole surrounds) will work just fine as long as you don't start getting into multichannel music  - on SACD, DVD-Audio or Blu-ray - those need the same speakers all around.

Paradigm wrote something about surrounds - http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/literature/surrounds.php

Best one I've seen is the Cardas Room Setup guide.

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=ins...ring=Room+Setup

Try it!

Where you got it

But just saw one in Adelphi S'pore for SGD650 = RM1600

Would cover one cost down there plus a little bit shopping

And pls prepare some $$ for the kopi duit at custom 

from net..... someone selling.....

Onkyo TX-SR608 (with THX 2)? < 2.6K.

Opt1 : MS Avant 906(X2)+905(X1)+903(X4) ard 3.6K
Opt2 : MS Carnival 6(X2)+Carnival 5(X1) + Carnical 1 (X4) ard 2.1K
Opt3 : MS Aviano 8(X2)+Aviano 5(X1) + Aviano 1 (X4) ard ard 5.3K

then Sub based on your budget & preference.......

where you got quoted? coz i juz got from the net.... malaysia (KL/cheras) seller... but dunno is the shop reliable or not? but understand some forumer bought from the shop before.....

MS Aviano 8X2(2490)+Aviano 5X1(799) + Aviano 1X4(1960) ard 5249 (maybe can further nego).

Will p.m you but you will surprise "who" is selling......

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Added on May 29, 2010, 2:38 pmpm send