Advice on speakers?

Magsterone - I have a B&K 7.1 for my home theatre. It was a huge upgrade from my old trusty Denon. I ran it with Von Schweikert VR-2.s and VS surround speakers and a Denon DVD player. It sounded so good for movies, I decided to listen to music through the system. I brought in a few CD's to audition for fun. I set it to 2 channel stereo and sat back to listen. Compared to my 2 channel music set-up (which costs about the same) it was just a waste of time. The sound was muffled, tone was not there, imaging was barely present. It was not worth trying to hear the music. Just my expereince.

Are you saying the cause for the muffled sound was the B&K or the speakers?

Joe in Mobile

Vandersteen 3A Signature. Very full range at the price point.

Joe - It was the B&K receiver. To my ears, it was mid-fi for 2 channel but hi-fi for theatre application. I think putting 7 discrete high-powered amps plus a DAC/sound processor, tuner and preamp into a single chassis with a common power supply forces trade-offs that two channel amps do not face. I am suggesting that it is better value to have two separate units for the two different jobs. The same speakers can work for both. By getting high efficiency speakers, you can use a relatively inexpensive tube amp for 2 channel. And the efficient speakers will be less taxing on the receiver so you should get better fidelity out of it. BTW - in my opinion, the ZU speakers are in a different league from the older B&W and Vandersteens that have been mentioned. Just an opinion.

So you are recommending separates, such as amp and separate pre-pro or getting a two channel amp for stereo and a five channel system for home theater? I am sometimes slow and just want to make sure I understand exactly. Thanks.

Joe in Mobile