Paul Messenger is missing the point.  Yes, few people will go out and by an "audiophile" 5.1 speaker package from, say, Dynaudio or B&W but they are buying the 5.1 packages that come with their TV or little Sony DVD all-in-one surround sound system and sales of these are probably not counted in PM's stats.  These same people who, in the past, might have bought a 2-channel hifi system aswell for music are now using that little DVD/CD/SACD all-in-one to play their music too.

In the audiophile market 2 channel still rules of course but that market is now tiny compared to what it was.  It's a miniscule niche.  The magazines will either have to cut costs dramatically or diversify into areas like HT in order to maintain the circulation.

Michael.