Small room (11x12 w/ 9ft ceilings), acoustics don't seem ideal and could be challenging in terms of speaker placement and such. It's in a condo unit, so will not be needing full-range towers and won't be listening at earth shattering levels. Mostly jazz, classical, acoustical, some rock and electronic stuff as well.

Not sure how to go about selecting components but I would like to start with speakers. I've auditioned a few at a local B&M and walked away really liking these Monitor Audio GS10 for their overall sound and clarity and impressive bass for being such a small bookshelf speaker. Also considering Totem Rainmakers (friend has them and they kick ass). Bottomline, I'm sticking with a bookshelf that is capable enough to run without a subwoofer. Getting a good deal on the GS10 so leaning towards that, unless anyone has any better recommendations?

Next, amplification. I'm thinking going integrated because I'm not ready to spend big bucks on fancier separates yet since this is my first dedicated 2 channel system. Considering Onkyo A9555 (heard many good things about these digital amps), NAD 355BEE, Marantz PM7001, and Cambridge Audio 640A. The GS10 I listened to was fed by a Musical Fidelity A5 that cost upwards of $3k+ so that's not an option, at least for now. I'm just looking for something decent sounding and under $1k that will make the GS10 sing. Leaning towards the Onkyo because it's cheap, seems to be popular amongst budget-minded audiophiles because of good sound for the buck, and has an MM phono stage on board. The Marantz also has a phono stage I think. However, I'm also very open to others that may sound better with the GS10. Unfortunately, these integrateds are not something I can audition and swap so easily.

Analog Source: Already have a Technics SL1200 from the good 'ole DJ-wannabe days and ordered a Shure M97xe MM cartridge so it should make this a passable table for now since I'm not sure how deep I want to get into vinyls if at all. If I do, I'd consider a VPI or high end Rega in the future with the requisite upgrade on other components and phono stage if needed. Any other MM cartridge might work well with the SL? No MC for now since the budget integrated amps I'm looking at only have an MM stage, not to mention MC carts cost a fortune for someone not even into vinyl.

Digitial Source: Marantz SA8001 from accessories4less seems like a good unit. Was impressed at the depth of SACDs and since many recordings I want are available in SACD, it will be the primary source. Any other transports/SACD players worth considering?

Headphones: Sennheiser HD595.

Interconnects and speaker wire: dunno much about these but I'll look into it more when I get my gear.

What else am I missing?

Integrated seems like the way to go...just not sure what's available on the used market that has the phone input, tubes, and is less than $1K. Choices are probably limited.

some research point me to a Bellari VP129 for less than $200
<img src="http://www.musicdirect.com/shared/images/products/large/abelvp129.jpg">

Carpeted the room and I'm even going to wallpaper it (not sure if this will help at all) and put curtains over the floor-to-ceiling windows to reduce reflectiveness and hopefully improve room response. Anything else I should do? Trust me, there are no other walls to knock down or doors to remove to open the place up :)

I'm just glad the gf is cool with me turning this into my own little world.

Have your dealer demo the GS10 with the amps they have in your range. Any of the models you listed are very worthy contenders, although I'd probably say the Cambridge and the NAD to be the most sonically compatible to the GS10s. The Marantz would look good with the SA8001 (which is a superb CD/SACD player for the money), but it may sound a little polite when your listening to rock or electronic tunes.
The Onkyo may well work well too, but I've yet to hear one. It's well spec'd and a couple of people I know who have it speak very highly.

Your SL1200 can in fact be transformed into a really useful deck if you (or if you know someone who) can fit a Rega RB250 to it (the stock arm is a bit of a sorry offering). It won't quite boast the musicality of a decent belt drive deck, but it'll sound dynamic and detailed if well isolated from vibrations and set-up right.

A higher-end Rega (P5 &amp; upwards) or a VPI would tack your analog into a completely different league however.

With a system like this I would suggest on spending about at least $100 on some nice interconnects (particularly if you are using SACD) and Tara Labs or Paul Speltz 'Anti-Cables should work well for speaker wire (both can be googled). Such is good enough to reveal the difference between $100 cables and $20 cables. Not after a war of words on value here, just suggesting what I've heard make a difference.

The Totems are indeed fine speakers. Which ever way you go there, try to keep the speakers out of the corners of the room.

MM cartridges are so good these days that many budget MC cartridges struggle to keep up.

<ul><li><a href="http://audiogon.com/">Audiogon</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.mcintoshaudio.com/">Link</a></li></ul>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.accessories4less.com/?category=search&amp;searchfields=brand&amp;query=Marantz&amp; gclid=CKnh_Nb-vpACFQINPAodMkRcWw">Refurbished Marantz</a></li></ul>

I just read over the room set up and types of music and tubes came to mind. I don't even know if they would work well with the speakers you have in mind (and it seems you have your mind made up).

I know Jolida sells a bunch of stuff that would fall in your price range. Audiogon usually has a steady supply of Jolida stuff listed. But that doesn't really help you.

would you say that the NAD and Cambridge are better suited because they're on the warm side of neutral.... since I've heard the GS10 been described as a bit bright or is that not the case?

you'll lub it

I'm a *big* fan of Dynaudio speakers. I've owned several pairs over the years and currently own the Confidence C1's. If you're looking for good/deepish bass response from a bookshelf, Dynaudio should be on your audition list, IMO. Another favorite is Focal, though I haven't auditioned much outside the Utopia range. Their beryllium tweeter is quite impressive.

An integrated is probably a good place to start with a 2-channel rig. Bryston, YBA and Cambridge are some of the better, yet not overly expensive brands that come to mind.

Phono cartridge wise, I think Grado makes the best MM/MI cartridges that I've heard. Their Reference series are quite impressive...I used too own one a few years back and will probably buy another one someday. I'm not sure how it would work on the SL...can't speak from experience there.

The Marantz SACD player is probably quite good. While I've never heard that particular unit, a good friend of mine had a SA-14 and now owns a SA-11...both were/are impressive performers. I've long held that the upper end Japanese single box machines are some of the best bargains in the digital marketplace. A top shelf Sony, Esoteric or Marantz player can rival the best of the US or European 'high end' mfgs, at a fraction of the cost. I personally have a [long discontinued] Sony XA7ES...still a great player, 10+ years later...built like a battleship.

Interconnect wise...I personally use all Hovland cabling [phono, line-level, speaker and A/C]. That said, I think your plan of acquiring the hardware first is probably a good idea.

Like I said, no bigger than 12x11x9 with one angled wall.

And you don't always need a floorstander in certain situations. Remember, I'm getting this purely for music, not movies. Aside from the space considerations, sometimes a fuller sounding bookshelf will work better than a floorstander, the latter of which is more likely to bring out low-end resonance/bass response issues in a small room. Besides, I was at Saturday Audio again today and A-B'd various floorstanders and bookshelves and discussed my needs and room setup at length with Andy and Carl. I was most impressed by the Monitor Audio GS10 ($1500/pair) and the PSB Synchrony One B ($2000/pair), both bookshelf types that sounded fuller and overall better than all the floorstanders I heard &lt;$1500. Except in the bass department, both the RS6 and RS8 sounded thin compared to the bookshelf models GS10 and Synchrony One. Night and day especially with Jazz and other sample tracks that emphasized the mids and highs. Granted, we were using a ballar McIntosh tube amp that whole time, but bass was amazing for being such small speakers too. An hour later, going back and forth listening to all of them, we all concluded that sonic-wise, I was better off with a higher-end bookshelf than a mid-pack floorstander. For me it was a toss up between Synchrony and GS10. Andy made the decision easier for me by giving me a nice deal on the GS10 and I will have it next week. I was very impressed with the RS8 but the amount of air that thing pushes with all those drivers is just a bit too much for a small room and the vocals and highs weren't as coherent as the best bookshelf models. If I had a larger listening room, I would've loved to buy the RS8's and save myself some $ instead of the GS10 which ended up costing me $1750 since I somehow "needed" the slick looking stands that were designed for them.

That place is evil. I started out buying a modest set of Radius speakers, now I'm tearing down a bedroom to turn it into a listening room. wtf.

&gt;<img src="http://www.mafocus.co.uk/data/852.jpg">

check em out. not cheep but great sound for a little room and they will fit anywhere<ul><li><a href="http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/rb-81.aspx">Klipsch</a></li></ul>

I like this idea the idea of using 703 insulation panels covered in burlap for esthetics the most. Minimalist, simple &amp; cheap.

<a href="http://www.atsacoustics.com/item--Michael-Tosh--mt_photogallery.html">http://www.atsacoustics.com/item--Michael-Tosh--mt_photogallery.html</a>
<img src="http://www.atsacoustics.com/media/images/product_xlarge/mt_photogallery_01.jpg">

Klipsch are loud and efficient with lots of detail, but far from refined and musical.

I actually did listen to them at the store and it had remarkable bass and overall sounded great but form factor wasn't quite as compact as I wanted from a bookshelf and mids and highs weren't as articulate as some of the higher priced models.

It played LOUD though.... given the same volume when compared to others speaker we swapped. These were the most efficient speakers of the lot by far.

My vote...larry's new room with the new gear! (who said I get a vote?) :-P

he just agrees with everything I say even when it becomes obvious that I don't know what I'm talking about and then repeats everything Andy has to say verbatim. I like his enthusiasm though but often doubt if he's actually hearing what I'm hearing :)

imo, a sub adds way too much presence to the music to be left out of the equation. I'll sit there and listen to music, switching the sub off and on. To my ears, there's no comparison. The difference with real, sub-produced bass is heard instantly throughout the music. To me, it's what makes sitting in the sweet spot for hours listening to music worthwhile. There's suddenly life to the music. It's what truly finishes off my full-range soundstage.

I really can't see bookshelves peaking my interest for a listening room. Maybe in an office or bedroom, where I just need to be able to listen to music. But, when I'm making a dedicated listening room, I gotta have it all :)

Unless they are used with bright ancillaries of course.
The Monitor Audio sound is quite open, but not always bright (quality X-overs prevent the metal dome tweeter from sounding too offensive). My preferred amp for the GS10s would be an Audio Analog Puccini or a new Naim Nait, but the price is a fair chunk higher.
Reggie's suggestion for a used piece on Audiogon is a good idea. Looks like you've already had a scout around. There's been a couple of Naits on their recently.

Obviously each to their own, but not all bookshelf speakers are bass-shy. PMC do some transmission line bookshelf speakers (just one example) that do very well in the lower registers.

It also depends on the music you listen to as much as anything.

Also, how much your neighbors can hear makes a difference too. It's better to have a little less bass than to have your neighbors banging on your door every time you're just getting into the tunes.

What the individual craves in a good speaker matters a lot too. Jazz and classical listeners don't always care much for deep bass. Many other things can matter more; musicality, three dimensionality, imaging, separation, subtle details, silky-smooth upper mids, timbre, sound-staging etc. And many of these can suffer when there's lots of bass. Just listen to the average 'tricked-out' car stereo system. They are invariably very potent in the lower registers, but almost always woefully horrible in most other areas of the many things which define high quality audio reproduction.

Read Larry's comments below...he's on the right track with bookshelves. Rubberduckie is also right on the money. It seems you prioritize bass higher than most other things, which is fine, but reading Larry's comments, he doesn't. A nice set of bookshelves should work wonderfully in this room.

I'm as big a fan of deep/powerful/tuneful bass as anyone, but obtaining it can be another matter.

Go out and find a speaker you really like...something that does everything above, say 45-50Hz *really* well, ignoring anything below that point, frequency wise. This isn't a far fetched idea...the *vast* majority of the audio content in the average CD [electronica, club, etc, aside] lies above to well-above this point.

We all have budgets, so shop within yours...if you have $1000 to spend, don't listen to $10,000 speakers. Similarly, don't judge a $500 speaker to be better/as good as a $1000 pair, unless they really are in outright objective terms [disregarding price], as both are inside the budget.

You'll likely end up with something in the neighborhood of a stand-mounted, 6.5", two-way "bookshelf" speaker [remember, we're essentially ignoring the bottom octave].

Now, go get that last octave, produced with a quality consummate with what was previously selected. This could be done by adding a sub-woofer [HT oriented floor shakers need not apply] or exchanging the above speakers with limited bass extension for a more 'full range' pair. Neither option is inexpensive, and sub-woofers [even highly regarded ones] rarely perform to my liking.

A couple examples:

My Dynaudio C1's are down 3dB at ~40Hz. Want another 10 cycles on the bottom without giving anything up above that? The C2's will do it, but the price *doubles* to $12,000/pr!

A pair of Magnepan 3.6 are down 3dB at 34Hz. The 20.1 will get the job done down to 25Hz...with a similar jump in cost.

Of course, none of this even touches on the [potential] additional amplifier power [read: cost] required to drive a full range speaker, nor the additional acoustical issues presented by the reproduction of deep bass.

It is all down to personal taste though...and I'm certainly not contending that there are no good, full range speakers on the market south of $10k, nor that anyone would be mistaken for desiring the reproduction of deep bass. That said, good, tuneful, deep bass is typically inordinately expensive to introduce to an otherwise well appointed system with limited bass extension.

"Tom will be out of town
5 May to 20 May
No Phone and No Mail to Tom
During this time."

Get a subscription to Audiogon, which allows you to research blue book value on items and allows links out to on-line reviews.

I suggest a minimal approach with high quality gear at first. You are on the right track with the totem speaker line.

There are several integrated amps known to be great with those speakers, look at Plinius, NAD, Jolida 302b, or a cheaper Musical Fidelity for a suitably detailed and refined sound. You should be able to find something used around $1000.

You need a quality CD source to keep the sound from getting harsh. I got a used Cary 303/200 for under $1000 which I love, and there are several options in the $700-$1200 range.

Save some money in the budget for quality interconnects and speaker wires; they really do make a difference when you get the level of resolution allowed by quality speakers and electronics.

You could get Hawks or Staffs used for what you will spend on the new Monitor Audio's. To my ear, any of the Totems will blow away the MA's in bass performance, imaging, resolution, and soundstage. Even the Totem Forests are such small profile floor standers that they will not overpower your room size. Most people would probably go Staffs though.

check out review link.
also check out Onix tube amp available at www.av123.com; have not heard it myself but seems like a nice unit.
in the 'premium' used gear market, see if Conrad -Johnson CAV50 can be had for &lt;$1K these days.<ul><li><a href="http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1106/jolida_jd102b.htm">Enjoy the Music</a></li></ul>

...way nicer amps and ancillaries than both of us. Because after yesterday, they now have a demo GS10 after I asked them to unbox one for me to hear. I'd think twice about going to hear it because you may end up wanting to trade up from your RS1. Don't they have a 60-day trade-up policy or something? :)

But seriously, the GS10 is phenomenal. Blows away the previous GR10 (gold reference from MA), surpasses the Totem Rainmaker in some ways and is on par with the excellent PSB Sychrony for less money. I even A-B'd it with a much more expensive ProAc Response floorstander they had on demo and the GS10 held up well in comparison to it. Problem is that I was warned that because it is a revealing speaker, it's finicky about the power it's fed, and generally demands nice gear to get the most out of it..... dunno what I got myself into but it's starting to look like there's a few more things to add to the shopping list thanks to the speaker selection.

make them your preferred amp for the GS10?

Just curious.

The McIntosh amp at the dealer was sure making the GS10 sing and I was loving it. Unfortunately, an $8k amp is not quite in the budget at the moment but perhaps something like Musical Fidelity, NAD Master series, or Jolida 801a are more realistic.