Finally saved 3000 what is a good setup.

Well, as far as speakers go, there was a guy on ebay last night selling a pair of Monitor Audio RX-1s for under $400; but you'll need to convince him to ship.

If you have a PC or Laptop I would use that as the source. Then buy a something like a Cambridge DacMagic a good integrated amp and spend the rest on you speaker. My budget would be:

USB DAC $500 (Dac magic, W4S Dac1 etc)
integrated amp $1000 (Sugden A21or PrimaLuna if you like tubes)
speakers $1500 (easy to drive speakers)

Or you could even go for active speakers and a DAC with a volume controll. There are many many options.

I'm relatively new to this, but what I've come to believe is that the biggest challenge is in finding components to have a synergy among them. Having gone through what I have to build my own system with hind sight being 20/20; I think that if I had it to do all over again, I'd start with the speakers and try to stick to the used market here on audiogon.

With hind sight being what it is and knowing what I know now, I don't think I'll ever buy another new piece of equipment.

Just an example (and I know this is ebay, but...) I found a pair of Monitor Audio RX-1s on ebay last night and they wanted under $400 for them. These are speakers that retail for something around $700 and they were just about new. And I just realized that I've already mentioned this above.

Anyway, my listening room/den is about the same size as yours. My system consists of:

NAD C162 preamp - ~$300.00. I probably paid a bit too much for it, but it was in really good shape.

Emotiva XDA-1 DAC - $250 shipped brand new from Emotiva. It is very flexible and a big bang for the buck, but I am admittedly auditioning other DACs right now.

Aragon 2004 amp - ~$500 from ebay. This is a beast of an amp and it sounds really good with my system.

System Audio SA505 speakers - $400. These things are tiny at around 10" tall but put out a BIG sound with a nice wide and deep sound stage and are not very picky about placement. I have mine on shelves in an entertainment center.

REL T3 subwoofer - $400. This unit is small and very unobtrusive and provides bass that is smooth and it keeps up with the fast little 505s.

Now just add your chosen source. I did a lot of swapping of components before I arrived at the combo that works for me. Like I said, in hind sight, I wish I had started with the speakers.

I now realize that if I had started with speakers that suit my tastes and space limitations, I could have saved myself a lot of component swapping.

Like Ddd1 has already advised you, get the best amplified studio monitors you can, e.g. Mackie, Dynaudio, Genelec, Focal, etc. If you still have some money left after buying the speaker get a DAC with an analog volume control, but IMO this is less important (you can always get one of those next time you have some money in your hands). Since you are a studio musician you are used to listen to studio monitors and you might fine the hi-fi/hi-end speakers disappointing. Very few hi-fi/hi-end speakers can play every type of music right and even fewer are able to reproduce the dynamic of live music realistically.

However, if for whatever reason, you would like to stay away from studio monitors, than get a NAD or ROTEL pre/power combo and the best speakers you can afford. Another good choice is a Musical Fidelity A5 integrated and again the best speakers you can get.

Good luck!
Paul

If it was me I would start off getting the best DAC you can find. Get a nice int amp and a good set of monitors. You can go in may directions. I have a nice Creek Evo and EPOS speakers myself. My sources are a PS1 and Rega table. If I using a squeeze box or other comp source the DAC would be the most important part of the system IMO.