Speaker Suggestion for teenage pre-stereophile

When I was in your shoes I found a pair of paradigm 9semk3's for 350! and they absolutely rocked. I used to listen to them for hours with a big smile on my face(up to that point I had never heard anything close to their performance) and for 350 bucks!! what a steal. Dont waste your time paying full stroke for some bookshelf speakers that will lose half of their value as soon as you walk out of the door with them and wont have any bass extention at all. Buy used from a seller with good feedback, you will get a hell of a lot more speaker for your money. Ive seen the paradigm monitor 9's going for $500 and the 7's for even less. The 7 and 9 semk3 were the models before the monitor line came out and they sound just as good. Now those are some serious speakers for the money. A decent outboard amp is a must too. Find you an older b&k or acurus for a few hundred dollars.

Wow! Thanks a lot for all the feedback, I finally have some good starting places. I'm wishign more and more that I had a good store in my area! What would be some good integrated amps to go with these speakers?? Keep in mind for the next 10 years (finish high school+college) these speakers will be in a small room. I definetly want to buy used, because it just seems that you get a drastic amount more for your money. Thanks for answering all these questions, and hopefully over the next few monthes I'll procure a system that will fully allow me to discover my collection of music. For now the only two things I want to get are int. amp and speakers becuase I've recently inherited a great old sony (I know, not the brand of choice) cd player. I was shocked, but this player sounds great hooked up to a friends HK amp+infinity overture system. So can anybody suggest an amp to go with the speakers they've suggested? Also, I hear great things about the magnepan mmgs...and it'd be sweet to have something a little "different". How much amp would I need to push these things, do they really need as much power as others have said to sound the best they can? Thanks again for any responses!

Welcome to high end audio. That's a good age to start.

Second the recommendation on the Paradigm Studio 20's. For $350-400 (stands included), they're an enormous bargin on the used circuit.

If you can afford to stretch a bit, go for the Studio 20 actives (~$700-800). With the amps built in, it's a great, simple package. Get a Citation 7.0 pre-amp (~$300-400) and you're SOLIDLY in the high end.

Good Luck!

I always like the sound from B&W's 601 or 602 S3 setup. Look into them if you can.

I agree with chris, those paradigm floorstanders are about the best bang for the buck ive ever heard. Go to audioreview.com and read the reviews on the 9semk3 or the monitor 9's. I wouldnt worry too much about space, your room seems plenty big enough. 25x15 is not small, are you sure you measured right? My room is 13.5x18 and I have Dunlavy 4a's which are 6 feet tall, and besides, dont you know, being an audiophile means you might have to throw out the couch to make room for your speakers. hehe