Quote Originally Posted by Robert-The-Rambler
Gemini used very clean class A/B amps at the time I got them. Yes I did buy them one at a time. As I tried them I bought more. They have a damping factor of 200 or greater into 8 ohms and generally were a very high quality product. They have since discontinued them and replaced them with absolute garbage. A Yamaha amp with similar specs would cost a tremendous amount of cash and franky probably not sound that much better if at all. I had a Yamaha RX-V795a receiver years ago that was the heart of my sound system. It had a damping factor of only 80 and was only 85 watts RMS!!!! Actually I still use it in my bedroom. The distortion numbers for the Gemini amps are .08 into 8 ohms. That is pure. The Behringer amps are Class H monsters with a damping factor of greater than 300 into 8 ohmn at rated power numbers. The distortion is some ridiculous .00 something number. You check the specs and these Pro DJ amps compare with higher end home audio marketed stuff. All my amps have separate power supplies. That has to count for something. Even a super expensive high end receiver should not be able to compete with so many entirely independent amps with solid specifications. I bought a moderate receiver because I knew I was not planning on using the internal amps and I also knew that I would be using external decoders for HD-DVD and my PC. The quality of the internal decoders would be fine for normal DVD use and the DSPs and equalizers would be more than enough for CD use with my old Toshiba dual disk DVD player with HDCD. BTW, HDCD adds wonderful sound to even regular CD not in HDCD. (High Density Digital Compatible)

It is a heck of a lot easier to just buy all the stuff at once but unfortunately I could not afford to do so and it led to some weird decisions along the way
Look, you've gone for a very non-traditional approach to HT.... lots of pro amps and (arguably crappy) consumer speakers.... It's not an approach most, if anyone on this site would go for... but as long as you think it sounds good... then nothing else really matters... Just don't expect people on this site to agree with your choices... it's not likely to happen...

A quick test to determine if you really spent your money well... is to carry some of your favourite dvds and cds and try out some traditional 5.1 HT systems costing around $4K and see if you're still happy with your sony setup.... if you prefer the sound you get at home then you know your money was well spent.... if you get home and want to toss the sonys in the trash.... well....

But trying to justify/debate with members of this site about whether your system is genius or insanity is a total waste of time... unless they actually get a chance to listen to your setup and judge for themselves.... and even then your oppinion is still the only one that really matters....

So just enjoy what you have....