to buy or not to buy acurus act3 200five combo?

I think this is more of a latteral move more than a major upgrade. The Acurus amps are reasonably good but tend to run a little bright. The ACT3 was problem-prone from the very beginning (I owned one of the first batch :-(. In January, I had my ACT3 upgraded to the Stage-One chips. It gave me more functionality but was a marginal step in the wrong direction in relation to performance (bass became a little more bloated).

That being said, I am sure you will find many people who love their units. I also thought it was great until I started comparing it with other stuff on the market (15 years ago I also thought Bose was good, but please don't remind me of that :-o ). Lots more choices now than there were when the ACT3 first became available.

Julian

I HAVE BEEN USING THE ACT3 IN MY HOME THEATER ROOM WITH NO PROBLEMS . I HAVE ALSO BEEN USING A A100 IN MY BEDROOM SYSTEM . AS LONG AS YOUR SPEAKERS ARENT TO BRIGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD SYSTEM FOR MUSIC & MOVIES .

I wouldn't do acurus with vifa tweeter. Acurus definitely can get bright. Vifa tweeters are terribly accurate and putting bright sounds into them will kill your ears-please note that I do have vifa's in my Coinident speakers and love them as long as the amp isn't bright.

Contrary to some opinions, I would go for it. The A200 can sound slightly sibilant, but a couple of modifications will get rid of that. The ACT-3 bugs were sorted out as time passed. By the way, are the speakers homebrew?