I don't think that the Arcam is too underpowered. I have the AVR100 running a pair of LINN NINKAs as mains, the LINN EKWAL for the center, and a pair of small Ruarks for the rear/surounds. I don't listen at "ear shattering" levels, but do like to hear the dialogue at a fairly loud level.
If you are not puting the Arcam in a large room, you shoud not have any real problems.
One nice thing about the Arcam is that you can match it with the Arcam P85/3 and Bi-amp the front three speakers for added power and an amazing overall effect. (I matched the Arcam with the new LINN AV5125 at the store, and it sounded great. I just need to save some money to add that to my home system.) Granted you can do that with many Audio Video Recievers, but over the 5 year period that I auditioned AVRs, I found none for the price of the Arcam, that provided the level or quality of sound that the Arcam did for anywhere near the price.
You might think that this is an indication of too little power if you have to Bi-amp to get the sound, well that in some cases is true. But with the ability to Bi-amp, you operate the speakers more effectively and use your power mor efficiently.
I am not familiar with the speakers that you mentioned, so I don't know how efficient they are. I do listen to about 50/50 music and video, and I really enjoy the sound of the Arcam/LINN combo.
If you are not puting the Arcam in a large room, you shoud not have any real problems.
One nice thing about the Arcam is that you can match it with the Arcam P85/3 and Bi-amp the front three speakers for added power and an amazing overall effect. (I matched the Arcam with the new LINN AV5125 at the store, and it sounded great. I just need to save some money to add that to my home system.) Granted you can do that with many Audio Video Recievers, but over the 5 year period that I auditioned AVRs, I found none for the price of the Arcam, that provided the level or quality of sound that the Arcam did for anywhere near the price.
You might think that this is an indication of too little power if you have to Bi-amp to get the sound, well that in some cases is true. But with the ability to Bi-amp, you operate the speakers more effectively and use your power mor efficiently.
I am not familiar with the speakers that you mentioned, so I don't know how efficient they are. I do listen to about 50/50 music and video, and I really enjoy the sound of the Arcam/LINN combo.