Nice looking - for living room?

For speakers, I will suggest Diapason Adamantes I, used,
if you can find one.They are musical and beautiful
looking.

Thanks for your responses.
"a Consonance Droplet to a Wavelength Duetto feeding a pair of Cain and Cain speakers"
I thought about no pre, and the Consonance would make that possible - but - will the sound suffer?
A one piece would probably please my wife, but probably not me. I have never heard an Arcam piece that held up next to same priced competition. I just have never been impressed.
Speakers - I'm really thinking Salk vs. Tyler. But both of these manufacturers make floor standing models that are no bigger than their small monitors with stands. Wouldn't I always (usually,anyway) get more/fuller sound out of the bigger box - all other things equal?

24phun,

Personally, I don't think you need a pre-amp if you get a quality CD player that was really designed to work well connected directly to an amp. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 really sounds great connected directly to an amp and the added transparency more than makes up for any potential (I've never heard any) loss of dynamics. Plus the benefit of space savings is a huge consideration in a place where looks are concerned. Heck, you could even get the Resolution Audio Integrated amp that matches and have a very good compact system.

I've owned Tylers and I've seen Salks on several occassions. The Salk is in a different league when it comes to looks. The Salks are stunning where-as the Tylers are merely acceptable aesthetically.

You may be shocked at how good some of the tiny chip amps or swithcing amps sound when driving an appropriate speaker. Some very expensive systems would be embarassed by one of these systems. If the goal is discrete, these could work, but if the goal is to look rich or impressive, they won't.

I've heard Cain and Cain Abbeys on a couple of occassions and they are OK, but did not impress me. They are very attractive IMHO and I wanted to own a pair, but they just didn't meet my expectations. I haven't heard the more expensive C&C speakers.

I love the aesthetic qualities of the Droplet, but haven't heard it. Would love to own the Duetto. They are built in my hometown. They also retain their value and a used one could easily be purchased, auditioned and resold at zero/little loss if you didn't love it. Of course, the Duetto would not power the Salks or Tylers.

Enjoy the hunt and let us know what you end up buying.

TIC

IMO the Manley Stingray is a stunner. It is not to everyone's taste so be sure to show it to her first. But everyone who has visited my home, even the non-audio folks, have spent time admiring and oohing and aahing over it. It is unique without being glitzy, which is hard to pull off. Add incredible sound, modest cost of ownership and a very affordable price, and what's not to like?

when used with the variable outputs ... the tube output stage is analog and will operate similarly to having a tube preamp ... cannot imagine that using a preamp, even a multi-thousand dollar one, would make an improvement.

the Duetto is a classic and will provide awesome sound for years and Cain and Cain speakers are museum quality pieces

good luck!

Jeff