Help: ISO Beginner full setup for excellent sound on $2000 max budget

Used pair of Vandeersteen 1 or 2 speakers, used integrated amp with phono pre built in at this price level. For now use phone analogue out into Integrated amp. Upgrade source later. At this price level dividing costs evenly across components will yield worse sound.

If you buy the Omega you will have very limited bass. Do you have any idea how lacking it is in low end extension? More like hearing fancy boom box than what I would call prodigious speakers. 

Have I heard them? No, don't need to, only have to see specs and cabinet dimensions, driver size, etc. 

There are some excellent suggestions here with speakers that will vastly outperform the Omega. This is the last attempt at trying to save you from making what I feel is a major mistake in selection of a system. 

It seems that the desire for aesthetics may be driving the speaker choice for whyistherenopie. That's ok, as long as you realize what you are sacrificing to get that pretty speaker. Here is what you will sacrifice, and if it hasn't been clearly pointed out to you, then you're not getting good advice. 

You will experience a lot of cabinet coloration, and the sound will be smallish, constrained compared to the speaker I recommended, a Vandersteen 1 or 2 series (older models for sale in open market). The tonality will be skewed toward the upper end simply because there is no appreciable low end to the speaker. A 5.5" driver in that sized cabinet cannot do serious bass. I suspect the specifications of 40Hz (loose specs) are very generous, i.e. weak. The tight specs will be closer to 55Hz +/-3dB. Do you have any idea what that means? It means NO low end! It means exactly as I said previously, that it will operate more like a boom box than floor standing speaker! 

In addition, the speaker will not be able to handle higher listening levels with aplomb. It will quite possibly begin to distort when you try to drive it to even reasonable higher levels to play your Pearl Jam, etc. Do you really want a speaker that will potentially distort when played at higher levels? Do you want a speaker that because of it's inherent design will struggle to give you a warm and inviting sound? 

Further, it will be quite dynamically limited. The nature of the bass will be VERY weak compared to speakers such as I suggested. You will get ZERO presence from the speaker in terms of feeling the music in a tactile way, unless you crank it up - and then experience the strain of the driver to attempt to play bass when it is a puny 5.5" driver and can't do anything much below 50Hz! 

Now, if a pretty cabinet appeals to you and that's your higher priority, I give that to you. You'll get your pretty cabinet. And as for the amp, frankly, 5wpc is not terrific with a 94dB speaker. That will NOT get you outstanding performance in whatever little bass the thing generates. So, the selection of the amp will not help much. 

Now, what can the combo of the speakers and amp do in its favor? It will most likely have superb coherence, and a clean center image. It may - notice "may", because NO ONE can tell you whether it will be more preferable unless heard - be more detailed, but that is not assured. The quality of the driver is unknown; I would not accept anyone but the manufacturer's word on that. Certainly armchair guesses as to the quality of the driver, cabinet, etc. are hack, not good advice. 

Proper assessment of a speaker and system entails many aspects of consideration, and a thorough discussion of the speaker and amp, in this case. I do not have an analogue source, so I recuse myself on that. Digital, I can give guidance, and I started you with a very affordable solution to get better speakers and amp going. 

The bottom line is that the Omega speaker you are considering is horribly limited compared to the field of available speakers. It is a niche product which would call for abdication of several parameters of fine performance. I have heard many of such speakers with smallish full range drivers and small volume cabinets. They all seem really impressive when heard alone, but not impressive at all when heard compared to other fine speakers. Imo it will not handle well the harder music you wish to play at times. If you are willing to accept a speaker and amp combo that is more like a boom box, and can't be played at higher volumes because it sounds strained, then forge ahead!  

millercarbon is trying to be your guru, as though he alone knows how to get the best sound. He said, "Without knowing anything else I can tell you that speaker probably sounds pretty damn good for the money. It probably won’t play real loud, or go real deep. But what it does do it will do mesmerizingly good. You will sit and sink into the music and forget all about what it doesn’t do because it does what it does do so well." 

Here are the facts; he has NO clue how good the speaker sounds, and whether it is a good value for the money. An good assessment admits that. How can I say what the speaker will sound like? Because I have built hundreds of systems of all sorts with all sorts of speakers. I have heard dozens of similar speakers and they all carry absolute characteristics due to physical constraints and construction. Ask people who know speaker design and they will agree with my general assessment of the sound. 

"It probably won't play real loud, or go real deep." That is understatement, and if you don't comprehend the consequences of the design, you could be vastly disappointed. I explained what the design does and what you should expect. i.e. Do not expect to be impressed when playing anything like Pearl Jam. 

"... you will forget about what it doesn't do because it does what it does so well." That's an opinion, and you may have different concerns, goals. IF a nice looking speaker with a beautiful midrange (albeit more strained sounding than with a Vandersteen most likely) and cleanness, but without much dynamic capacity, without much bass, without ability to play loud without potential distortion, without a boxy cabinet coloration is appealing to you, then go for it. 

Personally, I think it's a poor decision if you really want great sound for all kinds of music. I have spent way too much time on this already. I believe I am finished with this thread. 

I have no further interest in debating/explaining my recommendations. :)

Correction, third last paragraph should read, "... with a boxy cabinet coloration" 

whyistherenopie, you're being gracious and wise, so I'll add some more. :) 

Not trying to berate you, not trying to destroy Omega speakers. Trying to teach you - from someone who is an industry member, reviewer at Dagogo.com - what to expect. 

Here is an exercise; open up two windows on computer and put the pics and specs of the Omega speaker on one page and the pic (sans grill cloth) of the Vandersteen 2 on the other. Analyze the differences, a crash course in speaker analysis. Gain familiarity with the numbers and seemingly not so great differences. Those differences are very important as to expectations oF what a speaker can/cannot do. Whatever speakers you become interested in, do a similar comparison and try to figure out what the specs will mean in real world performance. When I was just starting out about 30 years ago, I didn't pay much attention to specs, and that was a big mistake that would have guided me better if I had a light familiarity with them. 

Spend some time reading about higher efficiency speakers and lower powered amps, and conversely lower efficiency speakers and higher powered amps. Two very different setups with different characteristics in system sound. 

Look at genres of speakers; panel (i.e. Magnepan .7), hybrid (i.e. Eminent Technology LFT-8B), dynamic (i.e. Salk audio), etc. All these brands reviewed by myself for Dagogo.com 

Two ways to go about it; you can have someone assemble it for you. That's easy and no mental work involved, but you have to be ready for anything in terms of results. Or, you have to invest time and effort to educate yourself. Most likely the results will be more gratifying than just copying someone else's system.  

Everyone is rooting for you! I wanted to make sure you really understood/appreciated how vastly different speakers perform. It's all good.  :)