Originally Posted by
markie
Skip that last question. You no doubt have gone through basic stuff like that. Perhaps, perhaps, FirstReflect's more advanced setup advice will yield fruit.
However, I think the simple truth is that the Denon does not have the juice required to run your M-K speakers properly. They are low impedance, probably low sensitivity, and probably love current. Your old Marantz quite possibly delivered more current than your Denon. The fact that the sound is so disappointing at higher volumes (presumumably with things like Dynamic Volume turned off) speaks to me that your intuition is right - the Denon is just too wimpy for your speakers.
I think your choice of XPR-5 is crazy good, but it's expensive. Maybe the XPA-5 would more than suffice at less than half the price. It would be way better than the Denon's amps anyway, and better than the Marantz. And quite possibly your M-K speakers might sing so well with the new amps that you might not be looking for speaker replacement. While the Sierra Towers would sound great, the only downside is that your would loose the seamlessness of having 5 of the same speakers as you do now.
Whatever may transpire, I'm very interested in whatever procedure has your system sounding even better than it once did!
Mark