I figured before I started working on some speakers, I really need a new receiver to drive them. I currently have an Onkyo TX-SV545, which is quite lacking. What I really don't like about it is that when doing surround, the rear channels only get 25W at 8 ohms. In comparison, the fronts/center get 75W. The other gripe is that there is no crossover adjustment for the different areas (Front/Back/Center/Sub).

I've been dealing with a local guy who seems pretty knowledgable. He suggested I may be better off buying separate amp/pre-amp versus an integrated component as the sensitive electronics in the pre-amp would not be subjected to the heat generated by a separate amplifier. Another guy who works for the sister store 90 miles away told me by having separates you can introduce another variable by having the additional interconnect between amp and pre-amp and believed that an integrated amp was the way to go. By the way, I'm looking at Cambridge, Marantz, and Anthem components.

does anyone know the recommended counterweight position for the Ortofon 30 (nude fine line) stylus? I used to keep it around 1.5, but recently it's been acting up and I've lost the paperwork taht came with the stylus.

My current system is: Rega planar 3, linn k5 cartridge
Rotel ra-04 amp
Rega Elys (mk1) speakers

I now need a new cartridge. I have read good things about the dynavector 10x5 (would this be ok in my mm phone stage?)but am wondering whether it is overkill spending so much on the cartridge, i.e. is it worth it?
Any advice is much appreciated. thanks dave