Receiver reccomendation (Help me please :)

[pixelthis]

I like the point about buying from a company that focuses on audio... I find nothing wrong with my sony, because of where it sits pricewise. Had i paid $2000 for it i would be terribly disappointed.

That argument about the last two channels on the 7.1 channel amps is why i posed my original question. Can i get 6 channel stereo out of a 7.1 channel amp...
Im leaning toward some separates but my budget has basically doubled. (who would have seen that coming)

Heres the thing about six channel stereo, it doesnt exist.
Sure you can have three rights and three lefts, but have you ever seen that done much?
Theres a load of reasons, for one thing it gets incredibly complicated, moreso than just setting up speakers.
Ever heard of Bose wave cancelation headphones? They work on an old principle,
used to be called superhet and was how fm radio was tuned, basically two frequencies
in a circuit, when added together, produce the difference, not the sum.
In other words they cancel each other out, 12,000 hz and 10,000 hz added together gets 2,000 hz.
THIS APPLIES TO SOUND ALSO.
So, with six speakers basically pumping out two channels you're going to get all sorts of dead spots for certain freqs, and in some places stuff will sound weird.
This is why those who know recomend against using two center channels, they can cancel out certain freqs.
So use the all channel stereo modes, if you ever do succeed in getting "six channel" stereo you'll find that large chuncks of your sound will disapear, be artificially emphasized,
etc

[f0rge]

Heres the thing about six channel stereo, it doesnt exist.
Sure you can have three rights and three lefts, but have you ever seen that done much?
Theres a load of reasons, for one thing it gets incredibly complicated, moreso than just setting up speakers.
Ever heard of Bose wave cancelation headphones? They work on an old principle,
used to be called superhet and was how fm radio was tuned, basically two frequencies
in a circuit, when added together, produce the difference, not the sum.
In other words they cancel each other out, 12,000 hz and 10,000 hz added together gets 2,000 hz.
THIS APPLIES TO SOUND ALSO.
So, with six speakers basically pumping out two channels you're going to get all sorts of dead spots for certain freqs, and in some places stuff will sound weird.
This is why those who know recomend against using two center channels, they can cancel out certain freqs.
So use the all channel stereo modes, if you ever do succeed in getting "six channel" stereo you'll find that large chuncks of your sound will disapear, be artificially emphasized,
etc

this man speaks the truth, my speakers have built in subs and i get bass cancellation with only 2 speakers, i'd hate to have to work out a placement for 6...