Well David, my dad is completely redoing his home theater, so he's expanding his "den", bought a 50"+ inch plasma and needed a new receiver and speakers. He's been over a few times and I've had the opportunity to demo my speakers for him. Needless to say he was blown away. The first time he commented, "wow those sound better than anything I heard at Best Buy".

So, naturally I was suggesting just get an Ascend setup similar to mine. In the end, I think he had to reluctantly decline because he just didn't think he could live with even an HTM-200 protruding from the wall because he has considerably more WAF scrutiny than I do. And if you want to know the truth, to this day my wife isn't exactly jumping up and down about my HTM-200s on Omnimount 20s in the back. I get the occasional scowl, and you should have seen the scowl I got tonight when I said I might buy that new HTM-200 for my center and put the old one in my back middle for a 6.1 setup!

Anyway, I said "well ok dad, how do you like these?" (showing him a rocket setup with the RSS300 Dipoles). He perked up and seemed to feel mom wouldn't object to those because they don't protrude as much and "look" home-theater-ish (to say nothing of the fact that, that's what they're designed for). Seeming pressed for time, he handed me his CC, and told me to order a complete rocket package for him (the 250 L/R, Bigfoot, and those dipoles).

So, here's my thinking. I get the impression "sound" is the alpha and omega to you so you don't seem to want to do anything to compromise that (like make a dipole that looks like a RSS300). But the home theater market is huge and if all you have to do is make a more presentable rear speaker, that might be worth the compromise. You could have some PR language that suggests that's what its for and not necessarily recommeded for music. Most people can make the larger front speakers work, so that's all you'd need to add to your collection to have a very HT friendly package. Or if not dipoles, just some speaker with a more slim footprint, focusing more on HT/looks at the expense of optimum sound. Besides, rear channels don't do much do they (exception in multi-channel music)?

Anyway, I'd like to see Ascend continue to expand and I hate to see (some) potential HT customers feeling alienated.

Azanon