Paradigm Sudio 100's v3 upgrade questions

I think if you upgrade to the anthem, you'll be more happy with the performance of your speakers. They can accept some very high quality power and still shine. I would say the cd player is also holding you back. Anthem is owned by paradigm and the seemed to mate well. The other suggestion I have is to try and find a Bryston in your price range.

I assume you're into multichannel music? If you're more into 2ch, I would recommend you picking up a 2ch amp and using the money saved to buy yourself a preamp. You won't begin to hear what the amps can do with your speakers until you bypass the receiver all together.

The 100s needs quite a bit of power to drive it. Both Bryston and Anthem will work well. I liked the Brystons more but the Anthem's are much more affordable. The Anthem sounds sweeter than the Bryston while the Bryston is more neutral and are more resolving. For your music needs, you would notice the biggest difference bypassing your receiver.

I actually listen to mostly 2 ch audio, but this also pulls double duty as HT which is why I would need a multichannel amp.

Well I only listen to 2ch audio and my system pulls double duty as HT as well. I sold my center channel and use my receiver to power my surround speakers. For my HT needs, I NEED to have a subwoofer and surround speakers. I decided I can live without the center channel although I do miss it.

So you can spend the money on a 5 ch amp and maximize your budget to improve your HT performance or you can get a 3ch amp and put more money into your 2ch system without sacrificing too much of your ht, or you can get a 2ch amp and maximize your budget for 2ch performance and sacrifice a bit of your ht performance. Unless you plan to go separates for your HT, you might not notice too much of an improvement by having separate amps powering your surround speakers vs your receiver.

Thanks for the good advice. Looks like i have some tough decisions to make. I do believe the bryston's are out of the budget though. Eventually i would love to get a pre-amp to go with an amp, but the pre amp will take a while.