Yep, the people here at audioholics have been amazingly helpful. I never imagined that all of this would be such a pleasant experience!
I had a HTIB for about a decade. After that avr crashed, I went and got the current Pioneer I'm still using. I got it with little to no research, and I got it because it was cheap and also locally available at Best Buy. Basically, I've always settled for less in audio due to my lack of knowledge. It never occurred to me that I could get such friendly help online, such as these forums.
So anyway, I got that new Pioneer avr, and its done the job, but I originally had it powering those very low quality Kenwood speakers I had from the HTIB. In other words, I had sound, but it wasn't good sound! So, I got online and found audioholics. They pointed me to some great speakers....my Ascends. That was one year ago, and audio is quickly becoming quite an addiction for me.
Now, its time to update the electronics. For whatever reason, I was drawn towards Denon or Marantz. Maybe it was all the praise I'd been reading about Audyssey. I'd also read quite a bit of good things about Yamaha AVR's.
So I guess the reasons I chose the X4100 was because I'd heard so many good things about Audyssey's MultEQ XT32. Also, I wanted wifi, as well as airplay. And very importantly, I wanted the capability to add an external amplifier for more power, and my current Pioneer doesn't have the pre-outs to do that. And last, but not least, there was a very good deal (IMO) to be had by getting a NEW X4100 for $750.00. Long story short, it had all the features I wanted and it was a good price. I looked at A LOt of AVR's by the way. So many it was blowing my mind and I just became more confused. I did narrow it down to 4 or 5 at one point, and I believe I listed them in this thread somewhere, but I was continually drawn to Denon and the X4100 was recommended to me more than once.
As for the 2 ch. Emo amp, again, Emotiva was recommended several times to me and I've read a lot of positive things about them. I have absolutely zero interest in anything beyond 5.1 (with the exception of maybe adding a 2nd sub later, and again, the x4100 has dual sub management), so I felt like the xpa-2 would get me the most bang for my buck. I often like to listen pretty loud to music, so I figure the xpa-2 will be more power than I should ever really need. After the discussions I've had, I'm confident that the x4100 will handle the center and surrounds without a problem, and I'm more interested in being able to play loud in 2ch. stereo. I have no need (or desire) for a 3 or 5 ch. amp. But that's just me. To each his own. So I had a little extra cash burning a hole in my pocket, and Emotiva is currently having 20% off holiday sale, so I pulled the trigger.
If it weren't for the audioholics forum, I likely would never have bought this equipment. #1) because I wouldn't be sure on what to buy, #2) because I wont be able to set it all up without asking for expert advice. Thanks to audioholics, I'm buying all sorts of stuff!!
