Multi-channel amp selection

[PurpleHaze]

Budget is ~ $1500

Our existing equipment for this soon to be built HT area consists of the following:
Panasonic TC-P65VT65 plasma
Marantz AV8802 – recently purchased from audioclassics.com for a great price

Multi-channel amps I've considered and looking to go balanced XLR:
Marantz MM7055, Outlaw Audio 7140, Emotiva XPA Gen 3

Any others in this ballpark that I should consider? No speakers as of yet... still in the process of learning.

Thanks.

 

[lovinthehd]

Why balanced/xlr connections....your gear far apart or something? Pick your speakers before amps is a better scenario.

 

[PurpleHaze]

My gear will not be far apart. I have read that balanced connections greatly minimize any possible hiss or 'noise' as compared to RCA while also having a better locking mechanism.

And picking speakers before amps (in my case) doesn't make sense as I plan to get an amp to pair with my Marantz AV8802 and ship several types of fronts to test (SVS, Ascend Acoustics, etc) that I can return the one's I don't like as I try to find 'the sound' for me. Isn't that the best practice if at all possible?

Thanks.

 

[lovinthehd]

My gear will not be far apart. I have read that balanced connections greatly minimize any possible hiss or 'noise' as compared to RCA while also having a better locking mechanism.

And picking speakers before amps (in my case) doesn't make sense as I plan to get an amp to pair with my Marantz AV8802 and ship several types of fronts to test (SVS, Ascend Acoustics, etc) that I can return the one's I don't like as I try to find 'the sound' for me. Isn't that the best practice if at all possible?

Thanks.

Balanced runs make little difference in most setups, may reduce noise on long runs. Locking means little unless you're always putting pressure on connections or something; I've never had an issue with rca connections in that regard. Testing speakers is one thing, silly connector issues or pre-amps/amps is not so much in the running.