No offense, but this is a good example of the kind of illogical, impractical hi-fi reviews that seem to be the norm these days.
First he claims the Sapphire is an affordable small speaker, then he recommends putting not one but TWO subwoofers with it, which, uh, means it's no longer either affordable or small. He says the package is under $3k (actually not accurate because the speakers cost $1500 and the subwoofers cost $800 each, but write that off to "magazine math" which is always errant on the low side when claiming anything is affordable) but consider that that's a) with the basic finish only, b) doesn't include the $500 stands you'll need and c) doesn't account for the extra cabling you'll have to buy for the subwoofers. (And of course it doesn't take into account that some people won't have "small to medium sized rooms" and will want larger subwoofers, but we'll ignore that.)
Two logical questions he completely fails to address: if you're going to buy two subwoofers ANYWAY, why not buy Emeralds instead of Sapphires? And, instead of giving yourself a massive setup headache trying to integrate four separate speakers (which our reviewer snottily notes "takes time, care and patience, and...is one of the major reasons people bag on subs so much, because they lack the listening skills and patience to tune them correctly"--yeah, it's OUR fault), why not just take your $3,600+ (real math) and buy some full-range speakers that don't require stands and just use one set of cables--and that were already "integrated" when they were designed--by the person who should be responsible for that task, namely, the speaker designer--in the first place?
MJ
