Hey, as the title suggests, I'm trying to come up with a good system for my college residence, which is currently a dorm room and will most likely next year be a small house/apartment. As some background information, I don't have a ton of experience with hifi equipment besides experimenting with some ~$500 headphones/mp3 player (iPod, Cowon) combinations, but I decided to buy some decent speakers this year and I've really enjoyed having them. They are, however, kinda cheap, so I'm looking for something better. The other day I had the pleasure of getting some good listening in of a couple of models: the Paradigm Moniter Mini and Sonus Faber Toy. I did in fact notice a huge step up with the Faber (which was also about twice the price), and wasn't as pleased with the Paradigm. So basically, I'm setting my budget at about $1800, for speakers and amp, but of course I wouldn't mind spending less than that... A couple speakers models I've looked at are the Dynaudio X12's and DM 2/6's, one of which would probably work out just fine for me - I'm just not sure how much I need (and unfortunately can't find a store nearby to listen to them at). Only other thing I can add is that I listen to all sorts of pop (rock, hip-hop, etc) music and some jazz, not really any classical though. Looking for something with punchy but not obnoxious bass, a large soundstage that'll work for my room and somewhat larger for the future, and something that can keep up with some of the faster paced music I listen to.
Hey, as the title suggests, I'm trying to come up with a good system for my college residence, which is currently a dorm room and will most likely next year be a small house/apartment. As some background information, I don't have a ton of experience with hifi equipment besides experimenting with some ~$500 headphones/mp3 player (iPod, Cowon) combinations, but I decided to buy some decent speakers this year and I've really enjoyed having them. They are, however, kinda cheap, so I'm looking for something better. The other day I had the pleasure of getting some good listening in of a couple of models: the Paradigm Moniter Mini and Sonus Faber Toy. I did in fact notice a huge step up with the Faber (which was also about twice the price), and wasn't as pleased with the Paradigm. So basically, I'm setting my budget at about $1800, for speakers and amp, but of course I wouldn't mind spending less than that... A couple speakers models I've looked at are the Dynaudio X12's and DM 2/6's, one of which would probably work out just fine for me - I'm just not sure how much I need (and unfortunately can't find a store nearby to listen to them at). Only other thing I can add is that I listen to all sorts of pop (rock, hip-hop, etc) music and some jazz, not really any classical though. Looking for something with punchy but not obnoxious bass, a large soundstage that'll work for my room and somewhat larger for the future, and something that can keep up with some of the faster paced music I listen to.