Gazunta said:
All the more reason to get better speakers. The objective with high-end speakers isn't volume but clarity and quality rather than volume. Cheaper speakers tend to promote the latter at the expense of the former and as such, require you to push the volume up to maintain clarity for sound elements like vocals.
A good set of calibrated, full-range speakers will give you excellent sound quality at any volume.
codswallop said:
Adding a sub for music is debatable, especially if you're looking at full-range speakers. A "true" subwoofer is really only there for an LFE channel in Dolby/DTS sound and you're probably better off concentrating on the speakers themselves if music is the goal.
That said, I doubt anyone in here is buying speakers purely for music. Like most of us, the best value comes from a set of speakers broad enough to cope with music, movies and games, so you'll be looking at a 2.1 or surround set. That said, when it comes to the surround sets, there's no rule that says you have to equip all the channels. Living in a small apartment myself, I don't have my rear speakers connected most of the time and just have the front three channels (left, right, center) and the sub set up. The receiver is capable of accepting a 5.1 signal and downmixing it (quite well I might add) into the existing 3.1 channels.
The center speaker is obviously the standout here and it's a good channel to have if you're watching movies in a large room with and audience that might not all be sitting in the direct center. Its purpose is to anchor the vocals and similar to the screen and it definitely provides some clarity in movies/games. There is a school of thought that the center is unnecessary, which is probably true if you're sitting in the perfect position but that's a topic for another day.
