I would assume a secundary/office system implies a relatively small room, and probably desk top use. To me that means bookshelf speakers, the quality of which would then largely depend on budget. In my own almost 200 sq feet home office (which I use a lot) I use Harbeth P3ESRs. They are great for near field listening, and they are wonderfully neutral (pretty close to the Quad 2805s in the living room). All they lack is deep bass, but the room is too small for that in any case. Some people may think they are too expensive for a secundary system, particularly if it is not used that much (but in my case it is used a lot). Of course, there are many cheaper bookshelf speakers as well, but it is important to check if they work well in near field. For example, I also have a very modest third (bedroom) system with Wharfedale Diamond 9.0s and their crossover does not integrate the tweeter and the woofer very well in near field (they are fine at greater listening distance).
In my case the only source for the home office system is streaming from my desktop computer, and I would gues the same will apply to many others in those circumstances. If so, it matters to have a quiet computer, and preferably even fanless if you can do without massive computing power. In my case I use the computer’s usb output into an ODAC usb DAC, into an Emotiva Control Freak volume control into a refurbished second hand 2x100 watt Quad 405-2 power amplifier that I bought for about $200. The Harbeths need a bit of power, and the 2x100 watt is just right for them.
To get the tweeters at ear height and to reduce the impact of the desk surface, I have the speakers on little IsoAcoustics stands on the desk. Even so, I still needed a litle bit of correction to reduce a remaining bass boost from the desk. I created a correction curve in REW, and applied it to the Equalizer Apo on my computer. The resulting sound is excellent, and because I did not waste any money on fancy electronics the final outlay was not too bad, and almost entirely due to the speakers. In all honesty, I do not think I could improve the sound of this system, whatever the budget. The only real isssue that remains is that my current desktop computer is still too noisy, and that current fanless computers do not yet have quite the computing power that I need.
In my case the only source for the home office system is streaming from my desktop computer, and I would gues the same will apply to many others in those circumstances. If so, it matters to have a quiet computer, and preferably even fanless if you can do without massive computing power. In my case I use the computer’s usb output into an ODAC usb DAC, into an Emotiva Control Freak volume control into a refurbished second hand 2x100 watt Quad 405-2 power amplifier that I bought for about $200. The Harbeths need a bit of power, and the 2x100 watt is just right for them.
To get the tweeters at ear height and to reduce the impact of the desk surface, I have the speakers on little IsoAcoustics stands on the desk. Even so, I still needed a litle bit of correction to reduce a remaining bass boost from the desk. I created a correction curve in REW, and applied it to the Equalizer Apo on my computer. The resulting sound is excellent, and because I did not waste any money on fancy electronics the final outlay was not too bad, and almost entirely due to the speakers. In all honesty, I do not think I could improve the sound of this system, whatever the budget. The only real isssue that remains is that my current desktop computer is still too noisy, and that current fanless computers do not yet have quite the computing power that I need.