Wharfedale MovieStar 60 6-Speaker System (Maple)

Rating:
Summary: Hard to beat for the price
Review: Finally took the plunge into home theater. Due to funding constraints, was looking for starter system to put into a moderate sized family room. Listened to Sony's, JBL's, etc and really didn't like what I was hearing (everything sounded like garbage compared to my Spendor BC1 stereo speakers). Saw this Wharfedale on sale and knowing the very good reputation for its stereo speaker systems, decided to take a chance and bought it without an audition. Coupled with a 100watt Sony AV receiver, the sound is just wonderful. First listens were with the LOTR Two Towers and Pirates of the Carribean. Simply wonderful. While small, the subwoofer really does a good job. I was really shocked at how good music CDs sounded when played in a Hall and Concert mode on the receiver. Listen to these before you spend hundreds more for speakers. Plus, the construction and gold-plated speaker inputs are top quality, and the maple finish, while only a vinyl veneer, exudes class!

Rating:
Summary: A few things to take into account
Review: First, the speakers do not look quite like they do in the picture (for the Maple version). They are significantly darker than they appear. Second, the quality of the speaker cabinets is disappointing. It is far too clear that the exterior of the cabinets is a cheap laminate. A bit disappointing given how attractive other Wharfedale speakers can be. So if you're looking for a home theatre speaker system that looks better than is typical, think twice. They do look better than most, but not that much better. Regarding the sound, it seems to be ok, but I'm not blown away by them. They don't strike me as being far superior to most of the other surround system speakers that you can buy. I have yet to watch a movie where I thought that they yielded a significant improvement over the system that I previously had without a subwoofer. Having listened to them more and more over the past month, I still don't get a sense that these speakers really dominate those that you would get in a standard low end home theatre system.