BigWill, If you look back a few posts, you will see the Alan actually requested I do most listening in 1.0 ... not 2.1, not 5.1...(I agree with him) ... If you think this through, comparing 5.1 channel systems in an A/B comparo is almost impossible.. So you try to keep it as fair as possible..
Next, to pricing... I use system pricing in an attempt to make things fair. For everybody.
For Example, the Rocket 550's are $999 stand alone, but will run about $1500-$1600 in a system adding the 200 center and the 300 surrounds. This is without a sub.
The Axiom 60 package is $1415 w/o a sub.
We then can get into a debate over the finishes... With Axiom, you can get a high gloss finish to match the Rocket's finish for $1000 in a system, or $350 in a single speaker (or is that for a pair ?) ... either way, the 60's then become more expensive than the 550's...
When you use system pricing for standard stuff (rather than custom, for example, in the Axiom line), you keep in line with what the typical buyer is looking for. This seems to be the fairest approach to all...:)
