First, I'd ask if he's lacking bass. If that's what's making them sound terrible, then but a sub. He's tried two different sets of speakers so it is probably NOT the speakers. Generally any decent pair of bookshelves will reproduce more of the high end of the audible frequency range than all but the best car systems. They will also tend to be more accurate. I've got a TON of CD's that will never see play in the HT that live in the car. I love them in the car. The car rolls off the highs, bloats the mids, and generally sounds all distorted. But those CD's sound OK in there. Take that same CD in the HT and they are unlistenable after a few seconds. My suggestion, get a CD that you KNOW is of good quality (tons of suggestions abound so I won't bore you) and have him listen to it. If he says that CD sounds bad, then it's the equipment. He's out $15 max with the bonus of having a good CD to enjoy once he figures out what the real problem is.
