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Just confused about where to start

Hello all,

I'm looking to add speakers to my audiophile setup which currently consists of (very high end) headphones. I want speakers for everything the headphones cannot do - simple enough. Problem is, I'm having difficulty deciding which gear I want to buy. I demoed a pair of B&W 705 S2's today and was very impressed. Unfortunately, my budget isn't that high. It's $1500 total, for the speakers and amp combined. Source is a computer. I listened to a cheaper pair of B&W bookshelf speakers (can't remember which, but were around $1200) and was not impressed. I am leaning toward bookshelf speakers but don't know if getting floorstanding at this price point would be a large increase in quality. The room they will be placed in is only 100 square feet. I am willing to buy used.

So, my questions, summed up are:

Is bookshelf a better option than floorstanding?

Is it worth looking at cheaper B&W models, or should I look at other companies altogether?

At least with headphones, I like a pretty neutral sound, if not a tad warm. Are there any companies that predominantly have this sound signature?

How should the room size inform my choice of speakers?



muffinhead123
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
Budget is:

It’s $1500 total, for the speakers and amp combined.

Speakers and amp combined.
tomcarr
1,587 posts
 
Agree with tutetibiimperes
muffinhead123 OP
35 posts
 
@david_ten sorry if I didn’t make myself clear. I have $1500 to spend on the speakers and an amp. I don’t really care how that money is distributed between the two purchases as long as it gives me some of the best quality at this price point.
@david_ten I have Stax SR007’s and Audeze LCD2’s. Maybe my expectations are completely out of proportion, considering I will probably only be able to afford decent dynamic driver speakers with my budget.
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@ OP  You did make yourself clear. I was pointing it out since one of the recommendations was for 1500 into the speakers.

Given where you are coming from with your headphones (which amps and sources are you using?) I think you may (will?) be disappointed with the performance, given your budget. 
muffinhead123 OP
35 posts
 
@david_ten OK, thank you for that. SR007 is using a modded T1 amp and LCD2 is using a Schiit Lyr2. Source is a computer fed through a Modi Multibit (not impressed, looking for DAC recommends as well).

As for the budget: I was thoroughly impressed with $2500 speakers. Granted they were hooked up to McIntosh components. but let’s ignore that for now.

Say I up my budget to $2500. Will this better approximate the SQ of my headphones? I realize it will take $10,000+ speakers to match the level of detail that the Stax present, so I don’t expect to attain that aspect of quality. What I do expect, however, is getting some speakers that image very well and present soundstage in a realistic way. Clearly, I won’t be satisfied with muddier sound, but I’m willing to accept it as a tradeoff for the inherently more expensive nature of speakers.

As for amplification, how much does it matter with speakers? With most headphones, it accounts for about 10-20% of the sound, in my experience. Is it the same with speakers?
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