Lifestyle V Conventional Speakers

[yoyopowder]

I'm a tad confused, or not so much confused but I just dont know. From reading through various threads, forums, boards etc, the gist seems to be that lifestyle speakers are exactly that, and you are paying more for the look, enclosure (piano black etc), size (with decent sound), but at the end of the day they will never sound as good a unit that might be a little cheaper but has a conventional look. Would I be right in saying this, and is this true for music but also home theatre? An example might be the MA HD90 AV10 versus the MA Bronze package, or perhaps the B&W 685 Home theatre versus the B&W MT20 package.
The reason I ask is my Lounge/TV Room is of medium size, somewhere along the 40sqm to 44sqm. Yes, the lifestyle packages would please the missus, but I think something like the B&W 685 HT package, if so much better could fit rather nicely too.

 

[Member 116841]

Lifestyle speakers are more often than not a compromise - more money goes into their shaped, unusual material cabinets than conventional box speakers.

 

[xmb]

It is the dilemma most households suffer, small 'lifestyle' speakers please the woman but the larger non-lifestyle please the men!

The only real answer is to take the women along with you to hear a demonstration of the difference in sound (probably with music rather than films as this tends to be more important to them). Well this applies equally to men and women as a good demonstration can help ease the parting of large sums of money!

I have to say there are differences between manufactures in terms of look and finish. Even my wife was more impressed with the look and finish of the Monitor Audio range over the Mission and B&W ranges. I nearly convinced her the Monitor Audio Silver RS6s would not be too big in our room since they had such a nice wood veneer finish! (I ended up with the R270HD as the front pair, RS-LCR for centre, ASW12 for Sub and an older model R270 for the rears, as even I decided the RS6s would be a little too big in our room!)

Go for a listen and decide for yourself what will suit you (and your budget) as even the better 'lifestyle' ranges are not that bad these days.

 

[t72bogie]

i think at a particular price point, definately with speakers say under £1000, then more traditional speakers may be better than "lifestyle" ones

...once you are higher priced though, most speaker manufacturers have realised you need something different looking and more aesthetically pleasing to sell a product

no-one is going to spend £5K on a pair of MDF boxes with some drivers in LOL