I'm excited to finally be living the dream and built a media room in the house. I need bookshelf speakers good for Home Theater 5.1 and SACD/stereo costing around $3000.
It seems all the 5.1 systems I've listened to that sounded good in home theater sounded awful in music. Atlantic Tech, all Definitives, other lower end.
So I listened to Sonus Faber Concertinos and fell in love, but a full 5.1 set with a REL sub is at $4000 - more than I want to spend. Plus I have no plans to upgrade my humble (but good) Sony receiver.
The Dynaudio Audience 52 SE's were perfect by themselves but the Dynaudio 42 center and 42 surround are so much colder and closer that multi-channel listening is a chore.
I prefer the warmer sounds like the Sonus provides. I'm no fan of Polk, BW, and other thin sounding (IMHO) brands.
Are there other brands I should be focusing on? Something that is warm sounding but still good for HT?
If you fell in love with the Sonus, that might be the one to save for.
Perhaps you can save a little with Hsu sub (google search for them). Also your shop may discount for you, if you tell them you can only spend less - they still make a profit.
Some shops would give 20 - 25% discount.
There is a speaker you might want to order - if you don't like them, you only lose the return postage - cbm-170 from www.ascendacoustics.com
Only $13xx for the entire surround system, but got great recviews. Also since you will be using your sony, you might want to spend less on the speakers if you are not planning on upgrading in the future.
What amp did you audition Sonus with? They might not sound like that at home with your gear - you might want to think about that.
It's not just you. I bought the Fluance SX-HTB and they are really good theatre speakers. But the music reproduction is just above average. Granted I haven't really experimented much with it.
But face it, nothing ever sounded better than Rush playing on my Sanyo deck pushing Jensen triaxs in my 1976 Buick Apollo.
I heard the Sonus at the local Magnolia HiFi. Which was recently bought by BestBuy Megacorp and they would not consider a discount. Even if I would buy projector and screen. I'd rather give my money to a smaller outfit or "factory direct" speaker shop anyway.
I heard the Sonus with a mid level multi-channel Rotel amp (I don't remember the model number). I like NAD and ADCOM sound and may go with dedicated amp in the future if I find the Sony is too bright.
Thanks for the advice. Because of my consumer-grade sources (sony SACD, receiver), wherever I buy I want to make sure I can return them.
I see alot on the list about Axiom. The reviews are glowing. Do they have a warm tone?