Greets, all. I hate to make my first post a request for opinions or a comparison. I admit on the front end that I haven't had time to do all the reading here that I would like to, or that I ordinarily would when joining a new forum (of any interest group) before posting.
A hundred years ago when I was single, I bumped into audio tweekville. I never had the budget to go genuinely high end, but I studiously sought out reasonably good values on individual components, and assembled a system has served me well for a good number of years.
Last year, SWMBO and my Christmas present to one another was a new HDTV. Between that, the Blu-Ray, and digital cable, it's been a treat. Even last year, we started talking about getting a HT setup for Christmas
this year.
Here's where I need your help: I've got to get a good option to convince her not to squeeze me into buying Bose.
I don't need to be convinced. I would like to have options that would keep us in the (roughly) sub $2K range all in. I have found a Yamaha 5.1 receiver that I like (RX-V863). I could "option down" on the amp a bit and save some money, but I like that model's features. The speakers that are in the running are:
Polk TSi400/CSI3/RTi4/PSW111
Elemental A6-6T6 Tower/A6-5T5/A3-5TC/A2-300
EMP E5Ti/E5Ci/E5Bi/E10s (Although I think I can knock that sub performance with a Velodyne)
I've also considered Energy, but haven't been able to find somewhere to listen to them. PSB and Paradigm have been in the mix, but seem to push the price point up.
I've been out of touch with audio long enough that only Polk and Velodyne are familiar to me, and those in name only. In the old days, Polk had a kind of "gimmicky" sound, but the current ones that we've heard have sounded pretty good. I have no easy way to hear either the Elementals or the EMP Impressions, and no way to do a direct A-B with any of the three.
So, long-winded, I know, but hopefully you'll help me make a smart choice.