On 13/04/2012 00:43, Ronald C.F. Antony wrote: > The cardboard speakers that ship with affordable 5.1 systems are not suitable > for music, and anything halfway acceptable is on a good sale at least > $250/speaker, which means with four speakers you're at or above $1k, add a > decent four channel amp, cables, speaker stands, etc. and you're well above > the typical consumer price level already. Agreed generally. But it _*is*_ possible to get decent speakers more cheaply, if you try. I got eight Wharfedale Diamond 8 Pro Active speakers at prices ranging from £100/pr to just under £200/pr, all new in their boxes. About half were unopened, still with the original Wharfedale tape and staples on the boxes; the others were new 'B'-stock - opened for display, but otherwise perfect. All came with a full guarantee from the dealer - most of them came from Dolphin Music. Great value, and no need to spend money on separate power amps. It took me about a year to get them, buying one or two pairs at a time as they became available at a price I was willing to pay (the last ones were the cheapest!). > Technology hasn't moved on. 5.1 is 4.0 plus a crappy center speaker that has > a totally different tonal quality and never blends with the other four lousy > speakers, plus a subwoofer to make up for the fact that the other speakers > are lousy. Four full-range speakers in a 4.0 configuration is better than > what 99% of people have in their homes, and cost near what they could > possibly afford. To talk about higher channel count is totally disregarding > economic realities. Again, not necessarily so. I have a '5.1' set of Wharfedale bookshelf speakers (not the same as the ones mentioned above). Actually it's 5.0 since with four decent bookshelf speakers and a matching, slightly larger, centre speaker, bass is adequate for TV/videos and surprisingly good for classical music; so I didn't get a '.1' subwoofer. The bookshelf speakers all have a 5" bass unit as well as a tweeter; the centre speaker has 2 x 5" bass units of the same type as the bookshelf speakers and the same tweeter. Driven via the Meridian preamp, they put out a nicely balanced sound, provided you don't want too loud; the Meridian makes sure the bass goes to the 5 normal speakers.
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