I'm the new owner of 3 Sierra-1 NRT's. I got them at a steal, but I'm worried I'll waste their potential. While music only makes up about 20-30% of my listening, I'm a huge sucker for film and television scores/soundtracks. Output/power/loudness or whatever you want to call it easily comes behind detail, resolution, and soundstage for me. My setup will be in a average size apartment living room, so I don't want to get disturbingly loud. I do, however, want to be immersed in pristine sound that will amaze me time and time again.

I fear audiophile snake-oil. Not since browsing a voodoo shop in New Orleans have I seen so much mystical nonsense surround an industry. Placebo affect seems to have a strong impact on a large amount of audiophiles. I've looked at a few receiver reviews, but its really hard to tell what needs to be taken with a grain of salt and what doesn't. For instance, there are many people who claim Marantz and Denon sound the exact same. They're both technically Denon, so why shouldn't they? However, a specific website that reviewed comparable offerings from the two brands clearly gave the victory to Marantz.

Then there's the Pro/Amp group. The new Emotiva offerings are very tempting, but have the benefits of such a system really been documented or is more talk from the easily fooled? Currently I'm looking at the Denon 3312, Marantz 5007, and Emotiva UMC-200+amp. Are there real differences between these setups? Do the price jumps justify the possible benefits? Are there better ones for the price range? I need help.