one of my goals in reworking my home theater was to have a very good 2 channel system. you are absolutely correct, the detail, impact, presence, air around the performers/instruments is spooky with the 28's in 2 channel. I have magnepan's all around. the speed with the planars and the 28's is like lightning. In 2 channel, the mains dissappear from the first note. multi-channel seems to draw more attention to the speakers being there,not quite the invisable act as in 2 channel. although the center now blends seamlessly with the 3 28's across the front, more so than any previous amplification I have tried. I am still debating the amp/amps for the rear. one little voice says do the 5 28's, another says do a 14 and leave some room for future upgrade. My available space/power can comfortably handle 5 amps the size of 14's or 28's. with 5 28's any future upgrade in HT, say 5.2 to 7.2 would require major rework again, whereas with the 14, it would just be a matter of another 14, 2 more speakers, plug in everything and done. some thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated by you, James, and anyone else that wants to throw in their 2 cents worth. I want to order the final amp/amps next week and finally finish this project. this has been a long journey, but the end result I see is very satisfying.