the best of five channel amp....

I'm waiting on a Theta Dreadnaught myself. Lots of clean power. 200wx5 into 8ohms. Balanced on all 5 channels. Retail $6000.00. The last three I've seen here went around $4000.00 used. Still a little rich for my blood.

I am currently driving a pair of Martin Logan SL3 with a Theta Dreadnaught (5x200W) biamped. I have been in the market looking for a speaker upgrade for the past few months and have listened to quite a variety of amp/speaker combinations. I must tell you that I have yet heard another amp that can better the Dreadnaught at the same price range.

You should really consider the Sherbourn 5/1500 5-channel amp. It is 5-mono amps built into one chasis and is awesome for audio and theater. The real surprise is it's retail is only $2000. no type-o either. For the money, I will take it up against anything out there and much more. And the good thing is you have much more $$$ to play with something else. Have fun...

While it might not be in the same league as the Theta or EAD ( don't know, never tried them ), you might also want to consider the Sunfire Cinema Grand Signature. Given that it is rated at 405 wpc @ 8 and 810 wpc @ 4, it will drive ANY load that you throw at it and never runs out of steam. The fact that it offers slightly different "tonalities" for the mains and center via the voltage or current taps gives the amp even greater versatility. Another EXCELLENT feature is that the warranty ( five years parts and labor ) is fully transferable even without a receipt. If you want to know how long is left on the warranty, look at the serial number. The first two numbers are the year that it was made.

To top it off, you can typically find these in excellent shape for WAY under $2500 on the used market. Mine was "mint" and set me back $2000. I use it for the center, surrounds and my two subs with a two channel Sunfire Signature ( 600 wpc @ 8 and 1200 wpc @ 4 ) feeding the mains. The 2 channel amp for the mains set me back $1600. As you can see, i'm a REAL bargain hunter : ) Sean
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PS... Some HT amps are voiced notably forward in order to aid in clarity of dialogue on movies. Make sure that you listen to them carefully to see if they will work in your specific installation. While that might be okay for movies, it can be somewhat annoying for music.

Yo Theater1,
You might like the Krell KAV500. Since they are now discontinued, they are going for less than half of the $4500 to $5000 they sold for new. They were only one of 2 five channel amps to earn a Stereophile Guide to Home Theater AAA rating. The EAD has been given good reviews by the HT press and so has the Proceed AMP5, the other AAA rated amp. They should both be within your price range used. I like the Krell because of its dynamics...it has explosive dynamics; the others are a bit more polite, reserved, and conservative. For movie soundtracks, you want the dynamic energy of the Krell, unless you just intend to watch chick flicks. Theta's Dreadnaught is an excellent choice if you can afford to buy a 2 or 3 channel version now and use an existing amp until you can add the remaining channels. It comes as close as anything that I have heard to the Krell FPB600c (if you add a good power cord to it) at less than half the price.