G'day mate,firstly thanks for stopping by and i can understand where you are coming from. The Yamaha speakers are the HX8 mains and cost way more than $500 each. I have had these speakers now for some years and i could of gone out and purchased the B&W 800 series for a lot more but that would have been a mistake considering what amp i had at the time. See the thing is, i did not own the AVP and POA when i purchased the speakers, like i said i have had them for some years now. As you probably already know, in this passion we are constantly moving forward and changing from time to time buying new amps and so on.The speakers are made and designed directly for home theater which i prefer to stereo listening but having said that, they are a great looking speaker and have plenty of power when i need to use it. This is what home theater is all about being able to have a great powerful sound without having to put too much load on your speakers so that's why i have a great subwoofer to take the load of the speakers by also setting each speaker to "small" in the settings. I usually demo everything i buy before i purchase it and if i don't like what i hear i don't buy it. The subwoofer is a great sub and is well worth the money that i paid for it otherwise i would not have bought it in the first place.There are products that have come out on the market which we all can overlook due to other product being over explained and over rated but the Yamaha HX series were very under rated. They are one of the finest home theater speakers Yamaha have made. Never had a problem with them and when i have given anyone a demo of them they always shine.Out of all my gear its the speakers that i am more than impressed with.I really don't listen to reviews nor do i bother to read them but what i do do is pick a handful of people that know way more than i do about home theater and listen to them. Like i said too many items released are over explained and that is the money trap.I have never fallen into that trap luckily.I know exactly what you mean though and i do agree with your point of view but i know my gear better than to listen to reviews.Thanks again mate.