Paul D. K.

B & K AVR 507 or Ref 50/200.7

I have a wife that doesn't like anything played loud. I can only play my AVR307 at -20 max or else she tells me to turn it down.

I'm interested in upgrading to one or the other because of the price drop, additional functionality, and the remote control - in addition to the fact I can change to the Silver color. The AVR 507 has 150 Watts/Channel and the REF50/200.7 has 200 Watts/Channel.

Any opinions as to which set-up would be better? There is a $2,500 difference between the two solutions.

I have B&K 803's for fronts, 804's for rears, and HTM 1 for my center. Looking at B&W ASW 850 for my sub.

Stephen M

The 507 is the same amp as your 307 so if your current receiver seems to have enough power, you should be ok. If money is not a serious concern, I would go with separates since this would give you more power for dynamics, it would be quieter and, in the future, any upgrade would likely only involve the pre/pro since the amp should do the job for many years to come. Unless you think it likely you will go seven channels in the future, the 200.5 will work now for fove channels at a little less money. However, if you got the 200.7 you could passively biamp your main speakers which may yield a minor increase in resolution. I have the 307 with Martin Logans and it does great.

Paul D. K.

Stephen -

Thanks for your reply. Since I posted I've decided to go separates. I'm going with the Ref. 50. However, salesman introduced me to Rotel for the amplifier. I started a new tread to get feedback on that.

I hope when all is done I'm really happy to make the money worthwhile.

Paul