The right amp for my system

if the pioneer isnt up to the task, then the marantz probably wont do it either. You need to step it up to something in the realm of an Anthem at 200wpc. The Pioneer is a nice unit but when you put that much in one box, it does have it limitations as you've seen.

I have a 130w Pioneer Elite. I drive the center and rears with the Pioneer, thus preserving all the functionality of the receiver, including driving ceiling speakers in other rooms with channels 6 & 7. I inserted a Wyred for sound STI 500 integrated with a home theater bypass for 2 channel. Before that, I used the Pioneer as a pre-amp and ran it through a Rotel 1095 for 5 channel amp. Sounded great, and was less complicated for the wife and kids to use for movies. You could probably talk me into selling the 1095 if your interested.

Martin Logans are tough to drive, with a wild impedance curve. No receiver is going to drive them properly.

You are likely looking at a good 150 - 200wpc dedicated power amp with lots of current. You could use the Pioneer as a pre, but once you've invested in the power, you will likely find the pre lacking.

If you like the speakers, save up a bit and go for a decent pre/pro, power combo.

Previous comments are correct. If I understand correctly this is a 3 channel theatre system. Might consider the Odyssey HT-3 three channel which will provide enough current as suggested AND proper damping factor to control the panels which is oft overlooked.

What is your source? I was in about the same boat as you describe. I had Marantz 125wpc receiver driving Focal 918s with an old Pioneer multidisc changer.
This year I bought a rebuilt older H/K Citation 16a that is rated 150wpc. The amp made quite a difference in overall sound for the $ spent.
I recently bought a Sony 5400 cd player and it made a huge difference. My system was very tiring to listen to with the Marantz because I would have to turn it up so loud to get certain sounds and then as different aspects of the song would kick in it would be complete overkill...just loud! The Sony seemed to level things out and decrease my desire to always turn it up.

With that being said I would shop around and buy an amp you can afford...then go from there. I am looking at preamps now for 2 channel setup. I have stopped using my center channel speaker since I got the Sony. It sounds best in the pure direct mode.

Thanks for the imput. Advice is well taken. I think the speakers are good ones but there is no lustre in them. Still looking for advice. I'm a newbie in this but love good sound. After what you've said i've done some research and am now leaning toward the Emotiva xpa-2 to power my mains. The write ups seem to be good as to sound replication. It is a little stretch for my budget now but will be a good tartet to shoot for. What do you think?

To get clarity you have to add acoustical room treatments to tame the early reflections.

What are you looking for in sound? What type of music do you listen to? Seems that the Clarity strengths are everywhere except in the low end range. My Focal are a bit on the lean side and I found that a sub using high level input from amp sounds good. Just enough gain to hear.
Again, the source has a lot to do with the result. I am assuming you are using cd or combo player?

On the clarity Bigby is right. Poor acoustics will cause the clarity problems as well as many others. Stats like yours won't have the same punch as cones in the same price class. I'm not sure what you listen to or what volumes so I'm guessing. A good subwoofer may help also. A sub is not a good place to cheap out either. If you have woodworking skills designing and building your own will save a lot of money.

Room treatments are super important and will have more affect on the sound than anything else maybe even speakers. If you look at the frequency response of a room not treated it will have peaks and dips as much as 20db. That's a lot and enough to mess up the sound.

Forgot to add that every time you double the power of the amplifier the loudness goes up 3db. 3db is a little more than noticeable. So a 200 watt amp will play 3db louder than a 100 watt amp.
It could be your speakers want a better amp with more current capability but I don't know what their impedence curve looks like. Stats can be hard to drive though.

Hey you guys are super. I appreciate your responces but your a lttle over my head at this point. I have a lot to learn but want to get off to a good start. I'm hoping to make the best of what I have for the time being so have to stick to the basics.

My Pioneer is driving the 2 M/L Clarity's, a M/L 8" sub, a M/L Vignette as a center, 2 Vignettes for the surrounds and a pair of old KLN's (go ahead and laugh) for the rears. I have Acoutic Zen Satori's for the mains and a pretty decent 12g. speaker wire for the surround.

It is used most for HT and a Panasonic BD-605 for music.
I know it's not much it's what I have for now.

It's all set up in my office/bonus room so as far as acoustics goes it's "hodge-pod."

I don't like music too loud unless to concentrate on a particular piece. But that's an unsustainable level. At normal listening levels the system is un-impressive. Low range is ok but mids and highs are lacking. The M/l's are 3 yrs old and may have lost some of the sparkle they had new. If you'd still like to comment I'm listening. Thanks

Geh7
Thanks for the offer on the Rotel. I do envy the W4S. The write-ups on it are very inviting. I would go that route if I could afford it. I'll have to keep that as a target for my "some day." How are they working out for you?
I think I'm settling on the 300w's of the Emotiva xpa-2 for the mains with hopes that will release some sparkle for the rest of the system. Just out of curiosity, what would you like for your Rotel?

Thanks for the comments on acoustics. The Elite receiver has a built-in set-up system and mic. I take it that it is supposed to analyze and compensate for the acoustics in a room. Should that be sufficient or should I be doing a little more study.