Based on this thread, I decided to give the HTA50BT a try. We recently moved into a smaller house, and no room for a dedicated "big rig" anymore. The new house has a pretty nice open floor plan between living room, dining, and kitchen, with some openings to a couple other side rooms. Good enough for a simple central system to have background music playing throughout the house. I initially had the Dayton powering some of the renowned Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers, and had a really nice midrange. Bass was pretty tubby due to placement of the speakers too close to walls. And highs were a bit muted - maybe due to my use of cheap radioshack banana connectors. But that midrange was really sweet!
Then I swapped in my hotrodded Zu Omen Dirty Weekend Mk II floorstanders and some better CRL Bronze speaker cables. Sounding even better! Bass is much better, though still a bit muddy due to being pretty close to walls. Highs are a bit more open than with the Pioneers. And great midrange is still there.
I'm very happy with the purchase! Still hunting around for some nice bookshelf speakers that perform optimally close to walls, but no rush given the sound.
Plus, the unit looks nice and compact and sleek - actually a pretty classy look sitting on the bookshelf between two plants. Totally at-home in a living room without drawing too much attention to itself. But also surprisingly larger than I was expecting for the price - it looks and feels like a real piece of equipment, with some actual heft/density.
