"Bottom end difference between the 88 and 89 is insignificant as you will need a sub or ideally a pair anyway."
I disagree. The extra level and extention of the 989s WITHOUT subwoofers are what helps the coherency of the system. The 989s may not reproduce the bottom half of the bottom octave very well, but driven full range they do VERY well with orchestral bass drums and organs down to, say, low-C, and that takes VERY GOOD care of ALL the big-orchestra music I listen to. I love my 989s and wouldn't have the 988s.
I do have subwoofers connected to the '.1' channel of the preamp, but they're driven only when there's something IN that channel, and the vast majority of my DVD-As and SACDs have nothing there. The system sounds fabulous with movies*, too, where, of course, the subwoofers often are driven hard.
* my favoriteof which is the DTS track of 'Master and Commander...'.
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I disagree. The extra level and extention of the 989s WITHOUT subwoofers are what helps the coherency of the system. The 989s may not reproduce the bottom half of the bottom octave very well, but driven full range they do VERY well with orchestral bass drums and organs down to, say, low-C, and that takes VERY GOOD care of ALL the big-orchestra music I listen to. I love my 989s and wouldn't have the 988s.
I do have subwoofers connected to the '.1' channel of the preamp, but they're driven only when there's something IN that channel, and the vast majority of my DVD-As and SACDs have nothing there. The system sounds fabulous with movies*, too, where, of course, the subwoofers often are driven hard.
* my favoriteof which is the DTS track of 'Master and Commander...'.
.