Small monitors for a dear aunt


i have a very kind aunt that loves classical music but is no longer satisfied with the cheap portable radio/cd she has now used for several years.
before i go on any further, mega buck gear need not apply for this situation. this will most likely be a combination bday/xmas present to her from several family members that do not share my taste in gear.
the system i have in mind for the woman that treated me like her own son would be

monitor speakers/stands (bookshelf size, nothing huge and pricey, placement may be issue so no rear ports)
an integrated amp (no huge tube beasts, prefer ss or hybrid)
a marantz cd600ose hand me down from me
an msb link iii d/a hand me down from me
kimber 4tc hand me down
hand me down ics from my assorted collection
gear can be new or used

i need some advice on matching monitor and amp so that an older non-audiophile woman can enjoy her free time and eventual retirement listening to mahler, wagner, rimsky-korsakov, brahms, and so on
her real interest and attention is captured by the soft and liquid moments within a composition, so accuracy/staging/imaging here would be priority
but i don't want sloppy reproduction of the ooommphh and pow in these compositions
roll-off is fine, but what does come through should be composed and firm, no bloat

budget i have in mind is about $700 to $800, though less would be nice and a stretch may be possible
the room is a guess at this point, i have not measured, but from memory i think we are talking about 8ft by 12ft
ideally i think a blue circle integrated with triangle titus monitors would be very nice, maybe im wrong, but it sounds nice in theory to me

please post your thoughts and suggestions so that i can begin my search, her bday is late november
fujindemon

Showing 1 response by sean

The less expensive route:

An NAD integrated ( which is warm and smooth ) with a set of smaller Pinnacles ( either 6 1/2" or 8" two way's / tend to sound a TAD bright / pretty efficient ) should work well together.

The more expensive route:

Musical Fidelity integrated ( clean and nimble yet slightly lean ) with Castle Richmond's ( warm and full bodied / medium efficiency ) should work well together.

Your Kimber 4TC would compliment either of these set-ups. How well the Marantz / MSB combo matches with either can be somewhat finessed via the interconnects. Quite honestly, i would probably suggest selling the MSB and just use the Marantz as a player. You could put the funds from the MSB back into the system in a place where they might make a bigger difference or more convenient i.e. speaker stands, small rack, reasonable PLC, etc...

Keep in mind that this is just my opinion. There are a million different ways to go about doing something like this and most all of them will net you better results than a CD boombox : ) Sean
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