So where do Wharfedales rate....actually.

[shaughnk]

Hi peeps,

new to the forum and perhaps somebody could help out with some advice.

I am now a little confuzzled.  :???: 
Despite being a IT techie I am a relative newbie to the world of sound equipment.

I am about to put in a Led Flat panel in the home tv area and thought it woud be a good idea to upgrade my trusty old Yamaha 590 to a amp that could handle HDMI as well as some reasonable front and rear speakers + sub for movies and the days when I want to turn up the Dire Straits.
I have looked around and Wharfedale seem a reasonable buy for the speaker budget. (approx R4-5k)  for a relatively small room of 5x4m. The amp has a similar budget, but I havent looked at that yet.

The trouble started when I asked a more knowledgeable friend for his advice and mentioned Wharfedale as an option. He spat on the floor (metaphorically) and declared them to be terrible kit, rated extremely lowly by the Hi Fi cognoscenti and would see me laughed out of any Sound Fundi gathering.

ok err... right...  how embarassing...  :-[    They seemed like nice stuff to me.

For my budget, what is out there ? can anybody advise ?
and where do Wharfedale rate actually... 

Thanks guys.

 

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