I'm looking to upgrade to a truly nice sounding pair of bookshelf speakers from my Auduoengine HD6 now (which are all-in-one) and interested in advice from forum friends like you all. I'll try to give you all some meaningful parameters.
Budget: $2000 including speakers, amp and something to stream to them with (could be as simple as a nice, cheap apt-x BT receiver or a Bluesound Powernode, which would cover all the bases)
Listening purpose: only music, no HT. And I listen to a wide variety of stuff from metal to hip-hop, folk, jazz, acoustic, noise I want them to sound good with all/most of these genres, not overly colored.
Tonal quality: I'm thinking a relatively revealing, neutral tone is right. I don't enjoy warm sounding stereos.
Room: this is my open floor plan living room, about 15 feet front to back (speakers face this direction), and maybe 30+ feet wide, stretching into the dining area and kitchen. I'd love to orient the speakers down the long side, but my wife won't have it. So it will be good to have wider dispersion since one can't always sit in the sweet spot. Ceilings are 9ft.
Gear: I am retaining my sweet REL Strata III sub, 10" sub that is very musical. Therefore. I don't need these speakers to be bass heavy.
Wife factors: This is the hardest part and the real reason I'm asking you guys for input. First, the speakers have to be walnut veneer or at least walnut colored. Second, they can't be too much bigger than the HD6s. Third, she would prefer powered (hates gear and wires), but I could probably convince her of a small all-in-one like the Bluesound Powernode. Fourth, she's going to force me to put them on the low media cabinet, not on proper stands, which on the plus side, saves me money on stands!
My goal is to get significantly better, sharper sound quality, while retaining the simplicity she needs and not spending a fortune. I'm open to good deals of used gear also and love to find closeout deals. I don't need the latest and greatest, but it's hard to find good digital gear used.
Currently, I'm looking at two main setup options:
1) a passive speaker paired with the Bluesound Powernode 2i, but hard to find walnut in many models. Paradigm Prestige 15b and Philharmonitor are on the list, but they both kind of blow the budget.
2) active setup, like Dynaudio Xeo 4 (not available in Walnut tho). My top choice for this option now is the AVI DM10, which is in Walnut but requires a cheap digital source. I'm thinking of scraping by with a Bluetooth receiver or the AudioPro Link1 because I have one of their portable speakers for a spare room already, but their app is clunky.
Tons of info. Hope someone has some good options. Thanks guys!!
