Price - long time ago I upgraded to Paradigm Studio/60 speakers and bought Rowland 102 plus Benchmark DAC1 (has volume control) using DVD player for CDP (Benchmark is jitter rejecting and doesn't care about transport - also good for computer). Very nice sound but now I got (bought dealer demo) Hyperion HPS-938. It is pretty much a shock to me how much better speaker could be in my room. Midrange is to die for and lows are chest pumping. Whole thing sounds the same time very coherent transparent and relaxed. Imaging is first class. In my opinion it is not a matter of lows or highs but just better transducers (and design) - you cannot cheat it. Rowland 102 is based on the smallest Icepower module (200ASC) as well as few other amps like Bel Canto S300. W4S is also based on Icepower (larger) and is very good bang for the buck. Rowland has exceptional cases (aluminum billet) and it might be important since one review claims midbass improvement with expensive antiresonant feet under Bel Canto S300. Rowland 102 is really nice amp and it is good candidate to buy used since it was released not so long ago (I'm one of the first owners). Be advised that it has only XLR inputs.
Look at bookshelf Hyperions (somebody is selling it on Audiogon): http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1262450537&/Hyperion-586-Great-Monitors. They might have the same transducers (read reviews) and add high quality sub as next step in the future (like JL Fantom series). It would be difficult to top system like that - at least within $10k. Forget about in-wall speakers - waste of money IMHO.
If I would guess it might cost you $450 for this Hyperion 586 (older model scratched), $1K for used Rowland. Buy new Benchmark ($1k) since they had a lot of problems and revisions at the very beginning - unless you know what revision it is. Whole budget would be $2450 and will leave you with $500 to save for the future purchase of the JL Fantom sub. The really good one 113 runs used at about $2k but you might settle for cheaper and smaller 110.
Somebody claimed very good performance of Icepower amp with Usher Tiny Dancer - exceptional bookshelf speaker with a lot of good bass (but I would still go with Hyperion 586 and the JL fantom). I hope it will help you a little to make your mind.
Look at bookshelf Hyperions (somebody is selling it on Audiogon): http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1262450537&/Hyperion-586-Great-Monitors. They might have the same transducers (read reviews) and add high quality sub as next step in the future (like JL Fantom series). It would be difficult to top system like that - at least within $10k. Forget about in-wall speakers - waste of money IMHO.
If I would guess it might cost you $450 for this Hyperion 586 (older model scratched), $1K for used Rowland. Buy new Benchmark ($1k) since they had a lot of problems and revisions at the very beginning - unless you know what revision it is. Whole budget would be $2450 and will leave you with $500 to save for the future purchase of the JL Fantom sub. The really good one 113 runs used at about $2k but you might settle for cheaper and smaller 110.
Somebody claimed very good performance of Icepower amp with Usher Tiny Dancer - exceptional bookshelf speaker with a lot of good bass (but I would still go with Hyperion 586 and the JL fantom). I hope it will help you a little to make your mind.