Please recommend speakers


I’m just starting my audiophile journey and want to make sure I pair the right equipment before going too far down the rabbit hole. I am coming into this as a complete newbie. I listen pretty much to everything but mostly pop, classical and jazz in a fairly large-ish lower level living room (maybe 20 x 20 feet square) and speakers sitting on bookshelves. I know they should be on stands or floor-mounted, but that doesn’t really work for me right now space-wise. So far I have Jamo 803 bookshelf speakers with newly purchased SMSL DA-9 amp and matching SMSL SU-9 DAC (previously was using an old NAD D 3020 V1 integrated amp with direct connection from iPad to internal DAC). Now I stream directly from an old iPhone/iPad via a USB camera adapter to the DAC which has balanced connections to the DA-9 amp. I pretty much stream music exclusively (currently on free trials with Tidal and Amazon HD). No other sources. No library to speak of. No headphones. The Jamos sound great to me, but I feel like I need something better to pair with the mid-fi DAC and AMP. So I’m looking for upgrade the Jamo 803s which were purchased on sale for $130. Looking to spend up to maybe $800 for a pair. Recommendations? Thanks in advance!

 

Edit:  Here's what I'm considering so far.  KEF350, Polk R200s, Audio Monitor Bronze.  Thoughts on pros and cons?  Anything else?

expresstrain

You mentioned you have a home theater setup in the same room? Why just replacement the floor standers with a nicer full range speaker? Wharfedale can be a great choice. 

Quad S2. $1,100 new and around $600 used. Tell your wife they are bookshelf speakers, then move them onto side tables and let her discover they sound better that way, and finally put them on stands.

@tomic: I’m keeping the NAD D3020, but the analog input doesn’t work anymore for some reason.  Only the digital input works.  So I was using my iPad connected directly to the USB port which fed into the internal DAC of the NAD integrated amp.  I was happy with that set up for a while, but then I wanted to try a better DAC.  I ended up getting the SMSL SU-9 DAC which seemed to be a good value for what was offered.  But then I needed a new amp because the NAD didn’t accept analog input.  I kind of randomly chose the SMSL DA-9 amp because it stacks nicely with the SU-9 DAC.  But the DA-9 amp is not that powerful.  50wpc at 8 ohms, 90wpc at 4 ohms.  Prob should have spent more time looking for a better amp. But ce la vie.

@audioman58: the amp is SMSL DA9.  50wpc@8 ohms, 90wpc@4.

@leemaze: I’ve considered combining the two but I prefer a separate system for just listening to music.  The home theater set up is in kind of a side nook for lower light due to a projection screen.   If I ever move to a larger house where I can have a dedicated AV room for music and movies, I would love to get the Wharfedale Elysian 4 though.  

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Awww .. thats awfully nice of you Honey… I hadn’t the slightest interest in opening your little Linkie … buzz along now there’s a good familiar