Blue, lot's of good advice here. I can only add this: Do take some time off of thinking about gear and all the rest of it. At the end of any day, all that matters are two things: 1) The music and 2) what your system sounds like to you and your ears, not ANYONE else's!!! Remember, you are the one who listens to the system day in and day out, it's the system you want, not what someone else wants. Also, we all hear differently. For instance, if you put two people or even 100 people in a room with the same pair of speakers with the same gear driving them in the same room with the same piece of music being played, no two persons will have the same opinion of the sound. At the end of the day, it's your system, period. If someone else doesn't like it, then who cares? As long as you like it yourself. As for your room: Do an evaluation, do some homemade testing. If your still stumped take some pictures of the room and write a description, then contact an honest acoustical engineer (not someone just trying to over-sell you a bunch of panels you won't need) and find out exactly what you do need to correct the room. (I might suggest GIK for starters).
. I really like ARC preamps and Mc amps. Rocking!
