First of all any help is greatly appreciated! This forum has proven to be invaluable and I thank all who have helped. That said, I have yet to settle on speakers and am hoping to narrow down my choices. i've been told that these speakers pair nicely with the Rotel RA-02 Integrated Amp: Paradigm Studio 20, B&W DM 602 S3, Monitor Audio Bronze B2, Quad 11L and Sound Dynamic 300ti. Any suggestions?
Shimon, I can only address the Paradigm and Monitors.Even though I own and love my Monitor Silver 2's I would choose the Paradigm 20's to go with Rotel. With my Elite 45 the Monitor's are a better match than Paradigm but with Rotel not so. If you are interested in the Monitor's I would suggest you listen to the Silver 2 instead of the Bronze 2. The Silver 2 lists for $750pr. This is not to say the Rotel/Monitor combo is bad as the Monitor's smooth out considerably once broken in but I just feel the 20's are a better match. I wish I could speak to the other but they are not available in my area. Another small speaker that is a must listen is the Dynaudio Audience 42. This is an incredible speaker for it's size and price.[$800pr list]
Rick, I read your post and it brought back memories of the speaker war in my area back in the mid seventies between Ohm and ADS. The speakers in question were the Ohm C2 and the ADS 710. Bookshelf speakers in the $400 pair or so range if I remember correctly. At that time the ADS blew away the Ohms but neither has been available in my area for 20 years or so. It is interesting how this works. The other competitor with Ohm back then in terms of the cone style floorstanders was ESS. I wonder whatever happened to them?
It is a small world. My old salon had both the Ohm and ESS when they first came out. The floorstanders were too rich for my blood then, so I settled for a pair of the ESS-AMT3's. The old Heil air motion transformer. Brings back a lot of memories my friend. If you somehow get a chance, check out the new Micro Talls. They just blew me away.