B&W 603s gone; I'm lost down the rabbit hole


Howdy, All.

When I moved to a small apartment a couple weeks ago, I sold my enjoyable old B&W 603 S1s and began looking for used bookshelf speakers at around $600. Now, after bleary nights of research and days of auditioning, I've lost focus.

Should I invest in Totem Mites? Or just buy an inexpensive pair of Paradigm Atom speakers? Or upgrade the receiver but keep my SACD player and…? Or maybe I should just sell it all and start over with something simple, like a Peachtree and a ? In my darkest hours, I want to know if I should just give up and accept my girlfriend’s offer of her old Bose computer speakers.

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

My current set-up is…

* Marantz PM 7000 integrated amp (95W, 8ohms)
* twice refurbished (but running surprisingly glitch free) Marantz SA 8001 SACD player
* $100 interconnects and maybe $50 speaker wire

My listening room is also my living, roughly 15’ x 15’ with standard ceilings and essentially wall-to-wall carpet. I can place the speakers anywhere…near a wall.

I listen to jazz 80 percent of the time at a volume just louder than a normal speaking voice, and adore my handful of SACDs, including Ella and Louis and Jazz at the Pawnshop.

My budget is $600. I could wait and save more, I guess.
emhans

Showing 2 responses by james63

I have an old Marantz reciever from 1976 (40 watt) that I messed around with on my 703s. It sounded pretty good to my ears but I only listen at about 75-80db.

I would not be too quick to replace your amp, just try it and see. Ignorance is bliss anyway. You can always buy one later.
The small totems never did much for me. I always felt PSB has better speakers for the same money.

I would look into used PSB speakers.... They would be a very noticable upgrade from your B&Ws.

I used B&W 703 for a few years in college and moved on to other brands (tannoy, thiel, etc) and I still can't get over how bad the 703s really were.