I can certainly believe a 5000C would hinder more than help.

For that matter anything but a vertical 8000 might hinder.

I now own two sets of vertical 5000's which I enjoy. But that 5000C is pretty low on my list of Meridian speakers and I have owned one. I was warned before I bought one.

5500HC is a wonderful speaker and I feel is quite different from the 5500 vertical. In some respects it complements the 6000's I have and in other respects it doesn't. Overall I think it does help and it took a lot of fiddling and TIME for my brain to acquire a taste for the mix.

Any horizontal center is a huge compromise. The least compromising one was formerly the 5500HC and now it's the 7200HC.

- Fiddler (IMHO)

If you think listening to music is fun, try learning an instrument.
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