Time for a speaker reality check

O.K. guys, I need a reality check. I am finishing up my H.T. and I am selecting speakers. I have heard most of the major players albeit in dealres' small demo rooms withridiculously overmatched electronics for the speakers' price range.I spoke with a local manufacturer of speakers, Advanced Sound out of Knoxville and

he has proposed the following:


Two planar towers comprised of 4 8"drivers, 4 5.24" drivers and two tweeters per side.The front will be mounted in a 20" wide by 5' tall by 5" deep baffle that will be filled with sand and weigh 300-400lb finished.The center has 4 8" drivers and 2 tweeters in a 18x43x13 cabinet weighing ~60 lb.I know that the tweeters are Audax TW010E1.


I am driving these with a B&K AVR202. These are wired for 4 ohms.


Bob made a set of demo planars mounting the drivers in MDF. These are placed obout 2 feet from the front corners and sharply angle to fit on the left into the 15" between wall and my 110" screen.


My wife and I spent a few hours listening to favorite DVD scenes and a coupleof CDs. So far, the sound has been pretty incredible. These are timbre matched extremely well unlike my current setup and the clean movement of effects is inspiring. They play at Dolby reference levels without strain. We were hearing things in scenesthat we have watched dozens of time that we had never known were on the DVD. This with

no break-in time and just some ugly MDF staring us in the face. Music was good,but not as good as DVD performance. Using just the two planars, the soundstage could have been a bit fuller for my taste.


I will have to live with whatever I choose for a very long time. I am adding a pair of SVsubwoofers.com 25-31CS subs to this combo and the next decision is on rears. The finished speakers from Advanced Sound will cost $3000.


I am posting this looking for opinions on this type of speaker design and any random thoughts you may have.


Dave

I am posting this looking for opinions on this type of speaker design.


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