I am currently caught in an upgradeitis loop and am looking for some assistance in breaking free and moving on with my life.
First, my 5.2 setup:
Denon X4500H AVR
Monolith 3X200 Amp for LRC
Ascend Sierra Towers w/ RAAL upgrade
Emotiva C2+ center (Horizon w/ RAAL on order)
SVS Ultra surrounds (mounted on rear wall in bipole mode)
2x HSU VTF-3 MK5 subs
See the attached drawing for a very rough idea of how the room is laid out. The MLP is approximately 8' from the speakers. I do like to listen very loudly on occassion (nearing reference levels).
Background:
Over a year ago I purchased a pair of Emotiva T2+ towers and a C2+ center. At $1200 for the trio, they perform absolutely wonderfully. I was especially impressed by how good the towers sound for 2 channel music listening (while crossed to the subs at 80Hz which is what I always prefer). They are so impressive for the money that I wanted to see if I could find a similar bang for the buck offering in a higher performance tier. The result of my curiosity took shape in a pair of Sierra RAAL towers that I came across in excellent condition at a very reasonable price.
After EQing and spending a few weeks with the towers, they are a clear and welcome upgrade to the T2+ towers. For music, they are silky smooth, very transparent, detailed, and effortless across a variety of genres. The more I listen, the more impressed I am with them. For HT use, I wasn't expecting to find this to be the case as the C2+ center is absolutely excellent, but when the front stage gets busy, it's clear that it's outclassed by the Sierra towers, so I ordered up a Horizon center which has remained on back order.
In the meantime, I've continued to poke around (why???), and became interested in the C426Be center from Revel. This thing looks like it could be a true "end game" center. Boy, wouldn't it be nice to be done with all of this for a while (ha!). Of course, even at a generous discount from a Harman dealer, it still carries a hefty price increase compared to the Horizon center. But if I could truly be done with at least one speaker for the next decade or three, I'd be willing to pay the premium.
But now that I'm thinking about jumping up yet again with the center channel, I would be looking for towers to match. This brings me to the F226Be and F228Be. Now, if there's one thing that the T2+ towers did better than the Sierra towers, it's in...I don't know...depth? Heft? Punch? They just sounded a little bit bigger (which they are) and fuller, if not necessarily louder. The Sierras are a noticeable step up in every other way, but they just don't have quite the presence of the Emotivas. I lay this primarly at the feet of the size of the woofers (5-1/4" versus 8").
The 226s offer dual 6-1/2" woofers, and the F228s get me back to 8". For my uses, would the 6-1/2" drivers get me enough of the way there given that the two subs will always be in use? I'm thinking...probably. The 228s are a good deal pricier, so if their advantage would be rendered moot by the subs, or at least mostly moot, I'd happily keep the savings in my pocket.
Beyond that, am I just being silly with all of this in general? Should I just stick with the (absolutely excellent) Sierra towers and wait out the center? Comparisons of these and the 226/228Be seem to be virtually non-existant. I've seen the shootout here involing the RAAL towers and the F206s, and the latter is clearly outclassed somewhat by the RAAL tweeter. How would they compare after stepping up to the beryllium of the 226 and 228? That's a tougher bit of information to come across.
Thanks in advance!