Full circle and thinking about speakers


This all started a couple of months ago by buying a pair of old B&W DM305 speakers and i'm completely new to all of this..
Then a  Rogue Cronus, Nottingham TT w/ a Lyra Cart. Waiting for an EAR phono stage to arrive Monday.
On the digital side - a Pro-ject streamer and Schitt DAC (place holder but it all sounds very decent).
So now I'm back to the speakers, cables and interconnects. I would like something at a level with the other gear - not that the B&W's are bad, they just aren't great.
What I like about the B&W's: clear detailed and focused.
What I don't like: At times the highs are glaringly high and when I expect there to be gobs of bass, there just isn't any to speak of. Jazz trios and quartets sound pretty awesome.  Rock not as good.
Condo life, which means my listening level is on the low side. Wall moving bass is probably not what I am looking for.
Listening space: The room is 14' x 25' and I haven't settled on which direction to arrange speakers. Currently they are projecting across the 14' width. That may very well change.
Any recommendations of where to start the search are highly welcomed. Speaker types, specs etc...as I know very little.
Let's say under 2K and used is fine if it gets me to a higher level.
Thanks  all
smaarch1
smaarch 1 ;
I do have a B&W powered sub and I usually use it with the maggies only it seems to kind of muddy up the sound due to the relatively slow physics of the dynamic sub driver compared to the ribbons in the maggies. But without the sub the maggies are somewhat lacking in the deep bass.
  Also the maggies require a good high-current amp with at least (IMO)  200 wpc. It's a low impedance speaker (at some frequencies the impedance dips down below 3 ohms) and it draws a LOT of current so many amplifiers just can't cut it. I bought a Schiit Vidar amp which has been working really well with them but if I crank the volume to high the amp sometimes shuts down. But it's OK since this amp has excellent protection circuitry just turn it off for a minute then back on and it's good to go. You can prevent this by putting your hand on the amp. If it's hot come down on the volume a little.
Hi MC.
OP's Rogue Cronus has 100w pc and he doesn't listen at high levels.
At 91dB sensitivity this will all work fine.
You eliminate lots and lots of wonderful speakers by sticking to some arbitrary made up sensitivity numbers....my wharfedale 225’s are only 87db, my tannoy legacy eatons, only 89db. They both sound wonderful. Amps are the Marantz pm14s1 @ 90 watts, and Sugden Signature A21se @ 30 watts (single ended pure class A). The marantz is/was used with the above 225’s when they were set up. The Sugden is currently used to drive the tannoys with wonderful results. Amazing how powerful only 30 watts can sound. Yes, at 87db, I’m sure the 225’s may not sound their best, but they sure responded to the 90 watt Marantz, which is a terrific integrated. It is in fact the last of the class a/b reference amps made by Marantz, as they have seemingly adopted class D for their topology on current designs (the ruby, the pm10, and the new model 30).
Buy the speaker you like, then buy the amp to match/drive said speaker. There are only a handful of 95db and above available, if you like the looks of teckton (i do not). The klipsch are ok, although some say too bright/fatiguing after long listening.....the zu line of speakers also offer high sensitivity, as well as devore.

For a killer system, I would recommend you buy a pair of wharfedale lintons @90 db, and a Rogue Sphinx v3 integrated @ 100 watts class D/tubed hybrid. About $3000 for both the amp and speakers, and that includes the stands! Most likely the best bang for the buck set up i can think of.

Rogue Sphinx v3 $1595
Wharfedale heritage lintons $1499 per pair (with stands) $1199 w/o stands.
Read the review of the lintons at Tone Audio, they love tubes!