I wonder about the active preamps, i have been thinking of the tom evan preamp but you don't see them around much so i will have to wait. As for the rear, i decided on a pair of bipole/dipole speaker-craft wall mount with 2 tweeter and two mids/bass aimable and tunable.also the marantz surround processor have a fully automated equalizing system using an outboard mic so all the speakers gets properly aligned in respect to phase, time and frequency response.For the most part the rear is just accent ambiance sound( bullets and bombs and screams) so getting a pair of $8000 avantgarde solo is only feasible if i happen to win the lottery and besides they are very BIG and just dosn't work.The speaker craft already set me back over $1000 for wall mount speakers, wahtever happened to the $30 ones i can throw away or is it giveaway???I will post after i get a tom evans preamp and let you know how the dynamics improved or not. The placette already convey enormous dynamics, i use to have a krell KBL and a KR tube amp before the placette and tom evans and i hear no decrease in dynamics if anything an improvement but the sound is definitely more transparent on the passive. One thing that is a drag is the placette tends to be sensitive to noise and hum emitting from the Plasma TV and it provide no ground!!thanks all for the advice!
rear surround speaker
I am looking for opinion about rear surround speakers. I want decent soound but don't want to invest a huge sum and also don't have the room. it will have to be ceiling or wall mount. the front speakers are avantgarde uno using tom evans amp and placette passive preamp,center channel is martin logan cinema.AV receiver is marantz 7100 with 100 watts per channel. Room is approx 15 wide, 12 deep and 9 high. welcome any ideas. thanks