Bi-amp with multi-channel amps in H/T

Use a five channel amp to bi-amp the mains and drive the center channel. You can then pick up a similar two channel or three channel amp for the rears. If your doing HT with Maggies, i would highly suggest picking up a sub to reinforce the bottom end. That's why i suggested a three channel amp. Two for the rears and one for the sub. This gives you the same "sonic signature" throughout the entire system and you don't have to worry about gain matching different amps for the highs & lows, fronts to rears and center, etc... Keep in mind that HT is all about dynamics and impact. Since Maggies are not real punchy, efficient or "bass monsters", you will need a good amount of power to get the job done. Don't skimp here, as you'll just end up spending more money "upgrading" sometime down the road. I'm close to being in your situation, as my mains, surrounds and center are all 87 db's and sealed. Then again, i now have 6400 watts RMS feeding this system, so i don't think that i'm hurting in this area : ) Good luck and let us know what you end up doing. Sean
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I have a Magnepan home theater consisting of 3.5Rs for the L&R, MMGs for the rear, and the Maggie Center Speaker. I use three ATI amps. 2 - 1504s and a 1506. I bridge them so the 1504s have two channels each to biamp the 3.5Rs. I bridge the 1506 so it is 3 channels for the Center and Rears. All channels have the same power output throughout and match sonically. I have been using this setup for 2 years and it sounds wonderful. I agree with Sutts that to biamp with two different amps is very difficult and requires some type of attenuator to match volume gains. This is useful for pure music listening using SS on the bottom and tubes on the top, but not practical for home theater. Stick with all the same amplification if possible. Hope this helps. Happy listening.

Thanks for the suggestions,gentlemen. Since my first posting, I've added the Maggie center channel and a Paradigm PS-1000 sub to the setup, but I haven't bi-amped yet. The multi-channel amp is the Sherwood 9080, which has done a fine job driving all five Maggies so far. I still want to make use of the Denon rather than letting it "gather dust", so to speak, so I think I'll use it for the MG1's in the rear and use the Sherwood to Bi-amp the MG3's and drive the center. any opinions?