Do I need to add power amp??

Looking at the spec sheet I'd think you'd do better with more amp but that depends on how loud you listen to an extent or if you just want max headroom (91db sensitivity and rated for 20-300 wpc, 1.6ohm at 20kHz). Are your two speakers just mains in a 7ch setup? Or a 2ch setup?

If its not broke, don't fix it.

Is it broken? Does it sound bad? Do you hear clipping? Does the receiver go into protect mode when you turn it up?

I have to ask - if you can't hear whether your system is broken or not, why did you buy such good hardware?

I wouldn't worry about it. Like Arny says, if it ain't broke don't fix it . Now if you simply need rationalization, yes, go for it! You could also just get a two or three channel amp for the front two/three speakers to help take the load off the avr's amp (that could be more along the lines of rationalization for you ).

I have an Onkyo avr and do supplement my front three speakers with some outboard amps but I listen quite loud at times (7.3 system). I usually listen to music with just my L/R speakers plus subs as the vast majority is simply two channel source, but if I actually have multichannel music then I'll play in the recorded format. I'd only use all channel stereo during a party or something...

This thread interests me a bunch and I am in a very similar situation. First of all if its not broke don't fix it is great and works perfect for many/most things but not really so well here with this hobby. I mean that is what we in this hi-fi hobby do is try new stuff to get the sound we are looking or hoping for. I guess if you are totally happy and you have the exact sound you always wanted then sure keep what you got till it breaks but this is kinda new to me and each time I have made a change/upgrade the sound has gotten better and better each time. When it gets better its awesome and kinda what drives us with this hobby of tinkering with different stuff. Its what its all about. Trying new stuff and learning and reading and getting new ideas and having fun with it. I have the same ML EM-ESL speakers. I started with Martinlogan Motion 12's,10's and 8 for HT and 2 channel listening with the 12's and they were really nice sounding.. I had a newer Denon the AVR2112CI amp and it sounded awesome and better than anything I ever had before and for music and HT my sound was so great. Then for the first time I came across the the ESL Xstat ML's and they totally blew my mind. I couldn't believe how much better they were. I was hooked and bought them and was so happy and then I upgraded my receiver to handle them better and got the Elite SC-57 and was blown away again. I then bought better speaker cables the Audioquest Type 4 cables and verse just the 14 gauge home depot wires I was using and the sound got a lot better again. I have no idea how people can say cables don't matter but that's another story. I was very happy with the sound and it wasn't broken at all but I kept reading how separates in the form of a good quality external amp will be a possible another improvement over even a beast like the SC-57. So just last night online I bought the Parasound HCA-1500A that has me going from 140WPC 4ohm to 315 WPC 4ohm. They say the Parasound is not perfect or a world beater but has a nice sweat sound and for the money is a very nice sounding amp and I hope it should help my speakers when they drop down in the ohms and offer more headroom and provide more imaging detail. Maybe it gets me another upgrade or not. I bought it used online and should be able to get most my money back if it does not improve the sound so keep an open mind to a good quality used amp as a possible option for you. Most out there seem to think it will be a nice upgrade but who knows? Another thing that may or may not help is with both our AVRs are THX Certified. I bought an AMP that was THX Certified as well so maybe that will help synergy wise when using components that are both THX Certified but who knows if that really matters or not but I thought to mention it to you in case it may be helpful.. I just did what your thinking of doing and hope it bumps sound quality up again but either way its been a lot of fun although it is getting expensive lol. Let me know how your adding an amp works out for you and when I get mine I will do the same. Good luck and enjoy...

Where are you? Don't know futureshop, would buy internet for amps. You already have a receiver, no need to use another simply for it's amplifier section. Buy a dedicated power amp (you don't need the pre-amp section an integrated amp would provide) if you want to play around with more power but I think you're probably just fine with the 818. Some of the best priced power amps can be found at emotiva.com. If you're out of the US this may not be so interesting.

Thought you were in the Netherlands with your handle there...didn't think BB was over there though. Lots of folk say it can be tough up in Canada for selection and price....

NAD's good stuff, maybe a bit over priced.

Is it possible to buy on eBay or does where you like make it tough? Man for the money there are some nice priced Adcom GFA-555 with their different variations for crazy short money. Sure there are better amps out there for sure but these are very well received and have a great reputation and they say sound great and I have seen them in the $300 and under $400 range. You may need to search a bit and your location may throw a wrench into this idea but that's a ton of amp for the money and if you don't like it chances are good you will get most/all your money back. Thought that idea may help you. With output Power: 200W into 8 ohms (23dBW); 325W into 4 ohms you can run your mains with this and it will take that load of your AVR for the rest of your speakers and I bet will be a nice smooth match and upgrade for very reasonable dough.

Yeah, no receiver is going to do justice to speakers that dip down to 1.6 ohms. But you say that you rarely go above the half way mark on the volume. What specific volume number is that on the display? My Onkyo goes from -80 to +20, so are you saying -30? Also, I may have missed it, but you didn't mention a budget. Since you bought some pricey speakers and plan to go 7.1, it sounds like you are willing to invest in a good system. one company I'd suggest is Outlaw Audio, they do ship to Canada. I'd phone to ask what they'd recommend, possibly the 7200 model would do the trick.

Crown Pro amps handle 2 ohms well so I would guess they'd handle 1.6 ohms pretty well.

If that's your volume level, there's no need for an external amp. But if you want to add the NAD amp, go right ahead, gives you the capacity to turn it up if you want.

I see, so you're probably not looking to get more than 2 channels of amplification right now. In that case, the only Outlaw option would be their mono block model. For a 2 channel amp, there are lots of options, you might check out the Emotiva XPA-2. I think this is their best amp, and it goes on sale now and then.

I use an Onkyo 818 with my Anthony Gallo Stradas (L/R/C) and, at -20 to -10dB listening levels, it rarely gets warm. No issues here. Onkyo claims 818 as "high current" amp (whatever it means).

If I understand correctly you need more power playing lower end which is normally handled by a Sub (if you have one). Can someone clarify the power requirements at high frequencies with low ohms?

a couple of observations

unless a person is very young or has lived a very quiet life, the chances they can hear 22 KHz are slim to none.

With a typical crossover frequency of 2000 Hz, the tweeter in a speaker system sees only 25 percent of the total power, which would appear to ean that any content with frequencies that high will not be calling for significant power at those frequencies. Even when you are playing loud, if there's 22 KHz content, it's not loud in and of itself and is not calling for significant power.

no CD will contain any sound at all at 22 KHz. there is a brickwall filter applied to the incoming sound stream when it is converted to digital at CD standard sampling frequency because the system cannot encode correctly significantly above 20 KHz.

Because of the above, and because bass is where big power is typically required, it's usually thought that frequency dips in lower frequencies are harder for amps to support

i am sure they sound great. I've loved several of the ML designs, and had Maggies for quite a while. But still, at the impedance dip, the power needed, even with the low impedance, is going to be negligible in the scheme o fthings. If 2Khz to 20- KHz is 25 percent of total power, 20 Khz is going to be , what, 2.5%? Even if the impedance is down to 1.6 from 4 ohms, that's boing to barely more than double power to maybe around 6 percent of total.

If it's clipping (moving toward a square wave) it's adding odd harmonics and the 3d harmonic lies at 60KHz which isn't going to make much of an impact on anything. In a perfect square wave (pretty much as clipped as clipping gets), the 3d harmonic is 1/3 the voltage of the fundamental (fifth harmonic is 1/5th voltage etc etc. to infinity to be genuinely "perfect").

The Onkyo 818 is a good receiver, but I personally wouldn't power ML electrostatics with it, especially 7 of them, as they're not easy speakers to drive. If you're thinking of going for a 7.1 system with all ML electrostatics, I would look at a 7 channel amp from Outlaw (at least the 7200, although the 7900 would be better), which has a great price to performance ratio in my opinion.

The bass is where the amp gets challenged, so if your speakers dip down to lower impedance ratings at very high frequencies, it's not that big a deal for your amp. At your listening levels I don't think you have an issue, and you're not missing anything accordingly, you would have to drive your speakers to much higher levels before you're going to have issues with that avr's amp section. Unless you just want to have the potential to get LOUD

The MLs at FS are only ever driven by the receivers they sell, never any power amps. I doubt FS/BB would sell speakers that damage receivers they carry.

If the Onkyo isn't getting very hot then it indicates it's not over worked.

There's enough objective analysis offered here which suggests you don't need more power at your listening level but many people still add power amps if they can afford them (sometimes people here assume you have to buy the cheapest brand) and they look cool on the racks. It's not a terrible sin and we don't have to rationalise (except some people feel obliged to do that to their other half) everything that we buy. It's ok to try them to your satisfaction. Start with a pair for the fronts.

There are good S/H amps on CAM, I wouldn't rush and buy a new pair of NAD at the local dealer.

You could also look at Emotiva amps they have alot to offer at a reasonable price