I have recently acquired a total of 6 Realistic Mach Ones and I did a review of them--so to save you time looking it up--I do not have a very descerning ear, and I do not have the data nor experience to debate the pros and cons. It simply is what I have to work with. I am sure there is better, clearer and all that but ignorance is bliss as they say... So with a starting point of the Mach Ones... two are operable with Mach 2 woofers in them and the other four are in need of foam surrounds. I have a line on that, but I am curious if anyone has a "stay away from them" recommendation. Also Amazon. com has a set of "manufactured with updated materials" woofers, so as I said in another post I may give those a try to see if they are at least better than the Mach 2 woofers.

"Technical Details
Modern reproduction of the famous Mach One design
Resurrect your Mach One speakers from the Seventies!
Same voicing but up-to-date materials and technology
2-1/4" copper voice coil on brass former
you can buy."

Anyhow at this point I do NOT have a good reciever or discrete amp (I've been out of the audio component game for a while--when did they start that?) --at least not one that is suitable for the Mach Ones. I have a Kenwood Soveriegn HT setup with 100ish watts per channel but when I hooked the Mach Ones up to that they sounded horrible. I think the whole DSP thing is completely opposed to the intent of the old speakers. (I do have a bose accoustimass 10 setup for the TV... but HATE it for music. Sounds great for movies.) In my computer room I have an Onkyo TX-SV717Pro and it is ok for what I am using it for... I have it hooked up to the computer (and mp3 library) pushing the "defiled" Mach Ones or DMO's for short. It has a DSP/Surround blah blah blah and is not great for the DMO's, but it has a little power and pushes them adequately although it sounds a little bad... it's a little bad at higher volumes. I had a set of Bose 301's (series 3's but no longer) and it sounded clearer, but I hesitate to say better as they didn't have the thump. Kinda wish I kept the 301's for the computer room now.

So where is this rambling nonsense going? I need advice. I think the background info is important to make recomendations. I do not have alot of cash to throw at this. I need to find a good stereo reciever minus the DSP crap that can push at least the four NON DMO Mach Ones. They are what? 160watts peak? I would love to find an old...circa 1980ish Reciever that has the gnutzack to push them. Big fan of Kenwood. (I know it's like amatuer hour for my ears...) I would ideally like to find a tube based amp for the sheer awesomeness (and fuzzy classic rock sound) of it.

But I am a little confused about the whole discrete amp thing... this is a modern stereo amp without the radio section is that correct? Would one of these sound good with the Mach Ones? I hit up garage sales like a angry grandma looking for old equipment that may work here. I ideally want to have all six speakers going in this abortion of an audio system but realize that I am going to be running at least two amps/recievers to do that... line out line in? Wax on Wax off Daniel-son.

But heres the kicker that may get me thrown out of here. My audio source. I had a Realistic Turntable but it has since died... and my album collection has shrank over the years with military moves and ex wife kinda things so that it doesn't make sense to try to ressurect that technology. I do have a very nice Teac soft touch tape deck that needs a belt. It has friggin needles! I love friggin needles! But again the medium is a little tired and not practical. My CD's were likewise raped and pillaged by the exwife and military life, so that leaves me with the Sony MiniDisc Deck--which I love but also hate... So that leaves me with MP3's. Even at 320k samples it leaves alot to be desired but it's what works for me now with money and all that. Again, I don't have all that discerning of an ear to REALLY hear the difference anyhow. It's only when exposed to a quality source do I say wow... I forgot that was in that pink floyd song or something like... hey the cymbols don't sound crusty like they do on my Ipod.

That being said I am going to build a computer with the intention of th at being the audio source. Maybe I'll even use the onboard audio 8.1 anymore to push three seperate amps for ghetto fabulous redneck surround. (I do have a SSD for the setup so the vibration doesn't kill the HD.)

Also I need a big ole gaudy graphic EQ to blink at me. LOL

Thanks in advance.
Chris