ROOSKIE
Major Contributor
I agree generally with your points. I do feel that these are essentially priced as "high end budget" if you get me. That is why they are debut reference, by no means are they ELACs reference level speaker but in their budget line they do represent top of the line, reference, budget gear.Yea that was my point, and your brothers are the rule, not the exception. Even within the top 20% of households many would balk at a $1600 stereo, nevermind the 80% under them. I spend a lot of time in circles that are only tangentially related to and concerned with audio. The overwhelming majority of people looking for suggestions have $500 - $1000 to spend on a full 5.1+ system, and in most cases that's genuinely all they have (they've saved or financed just to manage that). That really won't even build a Pioneer or Sony system. That should put into perspective the gap to a minimum $2600 5.1 Debut Reference system, and how out of touch it looks calling it "budget".
Yes $2600 give or take is the high side of budget home theater. Or the middle of the road for a mid range buyer.
If you look at 2 channel, this makes more sense. Buy the dbr-62 for $600 and a refurb Yamaha r-s202 ($89) or Yamaha r-n303 for $199 and for $700-800 you have a very decent set up to start with. Yes, either Yamaha will easily power these, I have used both those ultra budget amps with serious success with several very good speakers, they sound great.
In any case I'd say that $600 for one pair is still budget, just pushing it though.