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3 identical fronts or dedicated CC

I've been looking at replacing my aging Vandersteen 2Cs. I'm stuck with a plasma screen over a fireplace and currently have a Vienna Waltz Grand on the mantle as a CC.
I've been considering getting 3 identical speakers, putting the CC in front of the rarely used fireplace, considering standmounts. I'm getting some resistance with that planfrom my wife.
My budget is up to about $2500/speaker.
I've been considering Selah Tempesta or Tempesta Extreme, several Salk models, Vapor Cirrus. Philharmonics are out due to the look and size.
Ran across a great deal on the TAD inspired Pioneer EX series. I can get the S-2EX for about $5k/pr including the stands, MSRP is $8500. They won't sell me a single S-2EX for the center, but they do have the S-7EX which I can get for about $3k including the stand. It would be about 21-22" high on the stand. I know it's better to have 3 of the sam, but given the concentric tweeter/mid on these speakers, the vertical dispersion should be excellent and I wonder if it would sound just as good, if not better since the CC has 2 woofers while the S2s have one. I think it will also look less imposing that way.

Opinions?
saeyedoc

Showing 1 response by j_fav

j_fav
26 posts
 
You think resale value on anything Pioneer is going work out in your favor? They're the Dodge of audio, 3 years from now you'd be lucky to get back what you paid on them in interest.

Compared to the others you're looking at from Salk, Vapor, and even Selah ... Pioneer won't give you anywhere near the same quality of construction and components for your money. That's real value, not some dealer knocking 20% off an inflated retail price. And any of those 3 shops will build you a center channel however you want it.

And just to state my personal opinion/bias, I think the TAD's are the most over-hyped, under-performing speakers I've heard in a long long time. So based on that, I have zero interested in the Pioneer.
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