Bookshelf speakers

What about a pair of B&W 805's? If i had the money i'd be getting those for my speakers

If you are going to use a NAD C370 as your amp I wouldn't spend 3K on speakers.  For that amp i wouldn't go past $800.

The NAD C370 is more than good enough for a solid state amp, solid state amps mostly sound the same it would be a waste of money to replace it, the speakers are far more important the speakers are what actually moves the air and creates the sound and theres big differences between them spend the $3k and get a nice pair of speakers.

You have to be more specific with your requirements & plans.

Can we assume is for a near-field setup to sit on your computer desktop?

Think about active monitors controlled directly by the Duet.

I've been using high end speaker rigs for over 25 years.  I've made a lot of mistakes.  One thing I have learned is that everything in the chain is important.  There is not one thing that is the most important.   You can have a great sounding system for 1K and another great sounding system for 3K and another for 5K and so on if you follow one rule.  Everything in the chain must be up to the task of everything else in the chain.  You need to achieve a performance balance.  No use having 3K speakers if your amp isn't up to the task.  Using the L & R out of the Duet into your NAD will not give you the balance in performance you want with a speaker running 3K.   

What you really need to do is find an audio salon somewhere near or within driving distance of your home and go there and tell them what your intentions are and then see what they recommend for your Duet and NAD.  They might even be able to put together an entire system for 3K that will outshine anything you might do with the NAD and Duet.  

I think you know about this balance though since you have a Burson HA 160 for your LCD's.   

so he must upgrade everthing at once?  dont be such audio snobs.

i dont think so, go buy 3K speakers if you want and youll just know that your next upgrade is a better amp.

There's a couple of speaker amp blind tests in this thread http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/486598/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths , the matrixhifi 1 is the most intresting http://www.matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm .

Component matching by price is more of a good approach to assembling a system when starting from scratch with a set budget. It gives some guidelines where money is best spent. These, of course, are guidelines only. There are no hard-fast rules, especially if you have some decent gear with which to start that you can press into service. And price alone is not an indicator of sound quality, synergy with other components, or meeting personal preferences.

The aforementioned matrixhifi test is interesting if not conclusive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 

so he must upgrade everthing at once?  dont be such audio snobs.

 

i dont think so, go buy 3K speakers if you want and youll just know that your next upgrade is a better amp.

In my experience and from observing my lunatic friends 80 percent of the folks buying one expensive component with the intention to upgrade everything later on never do so.  They end up with just that one good component and no money left for anything else.  Then time marches on and all they have is that one good component.   I've seen this happen time and time again.  I don't know if the OP has more bucks to toss quickly down the pike but if he doesn't he'll get stuck in the same rut so many other audiophiles fall into.  That one good component and nothing else.  Meanwhile the 3K could have been used for a balanced system.  Just going by my years of observing the good and bad habits of audiophiles, including my own.  
 

Also, no need to calls someones experience and advice snobbish, that's just uncalled for.

i still see no problem if he never ends up upgrading the rest, it may be a waste but its his money.

honestly i do believe it snobbish to be so dismissive of someone asking a valid question, if he wants to spend 3k on speakers i would hes not a moron and while it may be helpfull to point out he wont get the best from them with his current set up, its another to flatley state no you must upgrage everything at once.  i cannot imagine hes not planning to keep those speakers for a while so just what harm is there in upgrading the amp in a year or two?  must everyone be so wealthy that everything must be done all at once or not at all?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rorymacneill09 

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a set of bookshelf speakers. Currently my iMac is feeding an Apogee Duet which in turrn feeds my headphone rig (Burson HA160 and LCD2). The L and R output of the Duet will feed my NAD C370. I'm planning on spending about $3k on speakers. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Thanks...

Harberth monitors are considered the best for bookshelf speakers in that range. I personally would not sapend that kind of dough on bookshelf monitors but if you must then the Harbeth should be a listen for you

I think the C370 is a fine amplifier and wouldn't find it odd to see one driving $3k speakers, as long as the power and impedance specifications are a good match.

$3k gets to a price point where you really ought to seek the opportunity to home audition a pair of speakers, so that you can be certain that they are a good fit for your needs in your own listening environment. I have not paid that much for a single pair of speakers because of other competing priorities in life, but based on what I've heard in showrooms and other people's systems, $3k to $5k is still within a range where you still get sizable gains in audio quality for going the "next step up". I am of the opinion that once you get beyond $5k, a pair of speakers should have no excuse for lack of competence in any area (other than low bass below 25-30Hz), and the good speakers in that range are largely differentiated mostly by voicing and consequences of intentional design characteristics (dipole, open baffle, arrays, etc.).

Last but certainly not the least, if you do get $3k worth of speakers, consider some acoustic treatments for your listening room. You don't have to go crazy with the panels and go turn your listening room into an anechoic chamber, but a couple or few well placed panels, possibly disguised as wall art, can do wonders to improve the sound.  For a few hundred dollars, room treatment will get you far more improvement in sound than the same amount invested in a better amp than the C370.

Jack

on a somewhat unrelated note, i'm sure mark2410 will recognize this question but i wanted to post it since it's another speaker thread. anyone know about the fiio a1 and/or its compatibility with the Audioengine P4? I don't want to spend the combined $350 and realize the amp isn't powerful enough. Source would be the Nuforce HDP's preamp fed thru USB.