Hello Axiomites!
I am in the midst of auditioning my new speakers and thought I'd share the results so far. Hopefully my notes will be of use to others researching new speakers in the future. To provide a basis for my perspectives, I'll focus this post on some background of my current room and system and listening habits. The next post will be an executive summary for those that want "just the facts". I'll follow up with the glorious (or excruciating) details beyond that.
The Room:
Our living/dining room is a little goofy in that the partial wall that makes the "L" isn't wide enough. So, for speakers to flank the TV, one of them (stage right) has no wall behind it. However, the TV is a 57" RP-HDTV so placing the speakers flush with the screen means the left speaker is about 2' from the wall so it is also essentially in open space.
The competition (my old system):
Front L/R: Cambridge Soundworks (CSW) Ensemble II sub/sat system.
Center: CSW "Center Channel Plus"
Surrounds: CSW "The Surround II"
Subwoofer: HSU VTF 2 Mk2
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V495
The Ensemble is an *exceptional* system. I paid about $250 or $300 back in 1993; I have buyers guide from 2004 that lists it at $400. Each sat has a tweeter and mid-range driver and the sub consists of 2 ported 6.5" woofers. The imaging of this system is exceptional. Regardless of where you stand in between the sats, vocals come from a tight spot at the center of the sound stage. Very often it sounds almost as if the satellites have turned off and the center channel is the only location of sound; the imaging is that tight/precise, the speakers that transparent.
The center channel is thin, both in size and in sound. It has 4 1.25" drivers that match the sats, and a smaller 1" tweeter. I've never been super impressed with it, but it isn't horrible.
The surrounds can be switched between dipolar and bipolar modes. I always run them in dipolar mode. They work well, but again are not the poster children that the ensemble was. They never really disappeared like the fronts do.
Listening habits are probably about 60% TV, 30% music, and 10% movies. I could count the number of DVDs we've rented and movies we've DVR'd in the last year on a single hand. Furthermore, with a 2-yr. old any movie watching that IS done occurs after the little guy is in bed. So, we never crank it up. Most of our listening is at the "conversation" level at 60-65 dB. Movie night will get to 70 dB or so.
Even though my CSWs fill our room nicely, I've had the feeling that something was missing. Also, I anticipate moving and having a "dedicated" HT room where larger speakers would be welcome.
Thus my journey began...
