My multi-channel system uses five identical Boston A40 Series II, which I selected because I already had two, and the remainder were cheap on eBay, and I thought the sound would be acceptable if not mind-blowing. I moved my Maggies into another room. I think the LSO Brahms Fourth has fine sound. If you turn it up, it's as though the orchestra is right in front of you. Ditto the Brahms Third and Shostakovich Eighth with Rostropovich.
About playing time: if the SACD format takes off, the companies will do better. In the early days of CD we had some short playing times. The very first CD I bought in Jan 1985 was Maazel's Stravinsky Rite of Spring on Telarc, which had only about 35 minutes of music on the disc.
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