what's my problem?

Try replacing your ac power cord. I did (Van Den Hul mainstream hybrid) and that cleared up and tighten the bottom end with a little extension to it.

Let the amp break in for a 2-300 hours.

If the speakers are too big for your room, then get something smaller. If you like the NHT sound, then get smaller ones. If you want something with a soft dome that is easy on the ear, nice bass and a smooth midrange, try a pair of Kinimas from Zetagcorp.

Loose --

At your price point, I would take all of my expensive cable, power cord, and speaker wire budget and put it into my components. I would apportion my budget
so I was spending 50% of it on my speakers, 30%
on my pre/pro, 15% on my amplification and I would --
seriously -- use standard power cords, 12 AWG speaker wire you can get for around 50 cents a foot,
and interconnects from no BS sites like....

WWW.AVCables.Com.

And...

WWW.Parts Express.Com

To clean up your power for around $100, get one of
these Blue Circle Noise Hounds...

http://www.bluecircle.com/index.php?menu_id=54

This will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

I can't say I have listened to a lot of speakers in your
price range. I would definitely try to get stuff used --
you'll get more for your money. You'll also have to
do something retailers hate -- go to their establish-ments to audition their stuff, then buy it used on-line.

The thing I would NOT do at your price range is get
talked into putting a bunch of my component and
speaker money needlessly into cables and wires.

If you haven't already, try to find a place where you
can listen to Monitor Audio and Sonus Faber speakers.

Try to find speakers that sound great, but also are
really efficient, so you can get by with less amplification.

Like I say, I haven't spent a lot of time looking for
speakers in your price range and I never recommend
anything unless I have personally auditioned it myself,
but if I were on a really tight budget, I could live very comfortably with some of their speakers, especially
the Sonus Faber Grand Piano Homes. These retail
for $3,250, but I have seen them here for around
$2,200. I know that is above your price range, but
if you can push -- save the cable and wire money --
maybe you can get into a speaker like that. Try to
give it a listen if you can -- it beats a lot of speakers
I've heard going for twice the money.

One last note: I am not familiar with NHT speakers,
but I did a little research. Back in 1994, Stereophile
did a review of a little pair of NHT bookshelf speakers
and it was a drooling rave. After that, I don't find
Many reviews of NHT speakers by Stereophile, but
everything else NHT puts out seems to get reviewed
and the terminology and praise for all NHT speakers seems to be stolen directly from that original Stereophile review, as if Stereophile told everyone
what to think -- not just about that little bookshelf
speaker -- but about all of NHT's speakers.

Maybe it is just a coincidence, who knows.

But, if you haven't noticed already -- I'm a skeptic.

Rob

Having said all that --

Also -- give your stuff a chance to break in. I've
seen stuff sound great right out of the box and then
go into a rough period where the bass disappears,
the highs are edgy, the speakers lose their coherency
and then, after awhile, almost by the hour, the stuff
starts to sound better and better until it sounds great.

Don't underestimate the need for a break-in period.

I 100% agree with Rob conserning cable costs or moving onto detachable powercord kinda hussle that only can suck your budget for the small micro-yota change.

Wire improvements and upgrades are needed for already perfect system to get small amounts of so-called "extentions".

Many engineers manufacturers and designers would realy say so and realy none would say that their speakers or other components will sound poor with RadioShack wires.

Moreover I can say that if the equipment is too sencitive for wires than it's not properly designed(i.e. designed without calculating a wire influence).

For the small room I'd realy recommend Totem speakers that would give you sufficient volumes crispiness and clarity. If you want a floorstanding speaker than Arro is probably the toughest one to drive. The larger floorstanders are driven much easier. You'll certainly have a chance to hear how small gets big.

Rsbeck,

thanks for your advice regarding cables etc. I, too, believe that the cable issue (while not completely irrelevant and without merit) is somewhat overrated.
don't get me wrong...i believe cables are important...but I really don't think they can change the fundamentals of my system.

I will try different tubes, though...that's for sure. I understand that they can make a REAL difference in the sound by opening up the midrange, adding clarity, more extended highs and tighter bass...I'm just not sure if it's as minor a change as , say, cables are.

Now , regarding NHT's...I've been a fan of NHT since they first came out. I believe they can sound fantastic in the proper setup. I'm not convinced that the 2.5i's are the greatest of NHT's acheivements, though. And i'm not convinced that the Unico is the best of matches for them (not discrediting the unico in any way)

So, where does that leave me? I believe it leaves me looking for new speakers...

you know, i would really hate the audio game if i didn't love it so much...

steve