B&W 603s gone; I'm lost down the rabbit hole


Howdy, All.

When I moved to a small apartment a couple weeks ago, I sold my enjoyable old B&W 603 S1s and began looking for used bookshelf speakers at around $600. Now, after bleary nights of research and days of auditioning, I've lost focus.

Should I invest in Totem Mites? Or just buy an inexpensive pair of Paradigm Atom speakers? Or upgrade the receiver but keep my SACD player and…? Or maybe I should just sell it all and start over with something simple, like a Peachtree and a ? In my darkest hours, I want to know if I should just give up and accept my girlfriend’s offer of her old Bose computer speakers.

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

My current set-up is…

* Marantz PM 7000 integrated amp (95W, 8ohms)
* twice refurbished (but running surprisingly glitch free) Marantz SA 8001 SACD player
* $100 interconnects and maybe $50 speaker wire

My listening room is also my living, roughly 15’ x 15’ with standard ceilings and essentially wall-to-wall carpet. I can place the speakers anywhere…near a wall.

I listen to jazz 80 percent of the time at a volume just louder than a normal speaking voice, and adore my handful of SACDs, including Ella and Louis and Jazz at the Pawnshop.

My budget is $600. I could wait and save more, I guess.
emhans
If you enjoyed your 603's but need to move to bookshelf units, definetely consider the B&W 685's. Audition them if you can. I believe you won't be disappointed and you should be able to negotiate a price for a pair of brand new 685's for around $600.00. I believe they list out at $650.00/pr.
You can get Monitor Audio GS10s for around $700-800 now. Mine have done me great justice and have nailed every kind of music I could throw at them (nine inch nails was a little taxing but they survived). However, I mostly listen to acoutic guitar and piano. They aren't bright at all. Very smooth and mellow but have an attack that'll knock you socks off if you turn 'em up a little. And your amp is perfect. I run a Bada amp at 95wpc @ 8ohm and the monitors just sing. the RS1s are even cheaper but a bit bright. Still sound great though. Not quite the inviting mid-range of the GS.

Good luck with your search and with whatever you get.