need amp advice

are you guys sure your not getting carried away? I'm talking about using a Cambridge D500SE source with Soliloquy 5.3 speakers.

I know receivers are not exactly welcome in high-end audio, but the Yamaha is a pretty good receiver. There's not much difference in the RXV- 995 and RXV- 2095, or the RXV-3000 for that matter except bells and whistles.

My local dealer recommends I keep the Yamaha and buy an amp, not an amp and another pre-amp. I appreciate your opinions, but if getting the fiance' to accept the Soliloquy over the cheaper paradigms wasn't easy... telling her I need another pre-amp and need to ditch won't fly.

You know what's odd about these forums... in this one everyone says the amp is the most important, in the Digital forum people say the source, in the speaker forum it's the speakers.

I understand the logic behind all of the arguements, but in the past 6 months I've gone from spending $1800 on 5 speakers and sub... to $2000 on mains and center channel... to $3000 on mains and center plus $400 for a CD player... to also considering an amp.... and now a pre-amp too! In 6 months, I've gone from $1800 to $5000!

So, with $4000, how would you split it?

I can take all of it home for a few days and demo it, suppose I could do the same with the amp, and pre amp. Sounds like a good way to go.

I know the Yamaha won't get everything out of those speakers, that's why I plan to upgrade it eventualy. But I'd hate to buy speakers now to "match" the Yamaha only to upgrade it later and the speakers be the weak link then.

Now that you mention it, I'm a little worried about speaker placement. I move quite a bit with my job and who knows if I'll always be able to get them away from the wall enough. No way will my fiance' go for 4ft from the wall. One mistake I made was buying a 57" widescreen instead of a 50"-53" widescreen. The 57" overcrowds my 17 x 18 living room a little. The room is open past 18 feet except for a 5ft patition that seperaters another room and prevents putting furniture there.

I usually don't like monitors on stands, takes up as much room as a slim floorstander and without the bass.