Another amateur in need of advice

Taking it all in, thanks all! 

@helomech Thanks for leading me onto the Tannoys! Never heard of them prior, and they seem to be pretty stellar!

I'm leaning toward the Tannoy XT8. The room where this system would be placed is unfortunately somewhat big, so that sorta steers me toward floor standing speakers. Would the XT8 be a good match with the Belles Aria? 

Tannoy has been making speakers (in England) since the 30's. The English use "Tannoy" for speakers like we use "Kleenex" for tissue paper (or Band-aid for self-stick bandage).

Cleanshirt,

Audio Doctor in NJ, should be on your short list of places in your area to visit. We have the products you are interested in and are easy to get to from NYC, via the Path, or by Bus, not to mention by purchasing from NJ we can save you NYC sales tax as well.

We carter to the begining audiophile as well as the advanced, and we are the NYC area displaying Quad dealer, we also have Rega, Nad, Nuprime, Kef, Dali, Paradigm, PSB, and a few others speakers and electronics lines that are really good and are in your price range.

You should not be intimated at visiting the NYC dealers as most of them will treat you fine even if you are not a high roller. The only issue with many NYC dealers is they will not have a good selection of affordable gear. Most of the NYC stores due to high rent sell mostly more expensive rigs however, most of them do have a few options at the lower price points. 

Right now we have demo speakers from KEF R series, for a very good price, as well as demo Gradient and Gershman loudspeakers as well, most demo models are being blown out for 50% off so you could snag yourself a $4,000.00 pair of speakers for $2k and have the pleasure of listening to them and knowing they will work for you.

We have other demo amplifiers to get you a fantastic system that will work for your budget, heck we even have a Rega Brio demo for $500 not the current one but the last one and we have a liberal trade up policy for display goods.

Helotech, you have some good suggestions, the new Technics turntable looks very good, the issue with your entire system recommendation is that this is a novice buyer who is basically shopping based upon research and not experience, he really doesn’t have a clue what he is going to like the sound of, and other than the KEF LS 50 he would be buying blind 100%.

The most prudent thing is for this begining and budding music lover/audiophile to actually listen to a system and then make his decisions on what actually sounds good to him, rather then guessing.

This is what a dealer can bring to the table, he is next to one of the world’s biggest cities with many dealers that he can visit and thus he can hear many different things that he may really like.

And other than room size we still don’t know what kind of music, does he play loud, are the speakers physical size important, are the speakers looks important, will he ever want to play movies on the system.

Go forth Cleanshirt and start to visit as many dealers as you can and then formulate what exactly calls to you. You will start to learn how and what does what and then you can start to educate yourself to making more intelligent choices based on having actual experience.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@cleanshirt,

I haven't heard the XT8Fs, but I've had my XT6Fs in my 15×26×8' room and they produced plenty of bass for my taste. However, I typically don't listen louder than 85 to 90db peaks, and I sit about 9' from the speakers. I suppose you could plug their ports with hobby foam if they produce too much bass.

I have always heard that the two most important (and variable) components are the "transducers" and agree. Transducers are the components which change energy from mechanical to electrical or from electrical to mechanical.  Those are the cartridge (mechanical of cartridge to electrical signal) and speakers, (electrical signals of system to mechanical movement of air.)  I'm not so sure as to the impact of quality of a D-A converter. These seem to continually improve as newer models are  incorporated. If you are into vinyl, no problem worrying about that one. I would get a decent record cleaner though.  Really kills "POP's" The easiest transducers to audition are the speakers.  Speakers have not only differing tonal balance, timbre and dynamics but also sound different in the room they are placed, so if possible try them in home with some ease of swapping them at the dealer for a different speaker.  The efficiency of the speakers will dictate the required amplifier power and tolerance to the speaker's impedance tolerances needed to properly drive and to properly control the speakers.  A low efficiency speaker on a high power amp may actually not be able to play as loud or be as dynamic as a high efficiency speaker on a low power amp.  Same goes for rapid transient performance.
As such, speakers do have to be fitted with the appropriate electronic equipment.  Back in the 1970's when I heard some speakers that just blew me away, I bought the drivers and crossover and built cabinets for them to save some $.  At first,  I used them with my older home built kit form electronics and an old low cost turntable and cartridge in an old KLH Model 20 system supplemented with a Heathkit 65 watt receiver.  Since that time I have been improving my electronics including biampiing my speakers (Ya, the ones I bought in the 70's with a refoaming of the bass driver surrounds) and as a result continue to make some minor headway with the system but still am happy with the old speakers despite hearing some really expensive systems in fancy audio emporiums.  Still use an old Audire stereo amp (got it used years ago) for the treble end.  By all means go maximum $ for the speakers you like best and just continue upgrading the stuff feeding them. If you are on a fixed budget of $5000, I would not hesitate spending about up to $3500+ on the speakers alone. I have a lot of "used" electronics with an attitude I would rather spend the same money for an old good unit than a new not so good unit.  Many dealers take trades.  A lot of high end stuff gets boring to those with $ to burn and get traded for the latest and greatest.  Such equipment may be on hand at a dealer and at a good price.   I generally figure under 60% of "original new price" is a decent bargain. I look at it like getting a better piece of equipment for the same price as a lesser quality new piece, more than saving money.