I'm trying to find a gift for my husband and don't know all that much about speakers. He would never spend much, so I will (ok, more like $700 max). We have 2 crippled mismatched bose that would go. We have a 15 x 11 foot room. An onkyo pre-amp/receiver(?) and some monster amp by "ADCOM". We use 2 10" subs in a box (meant for a car) as our bass. Can I have good music qual with 2 nice speakers, or do I have to have front and rears? Anything quality that doesn't take much floor space? Any advice would be greatly appreciated by me, and probably more so by husband! Thanks
"An onkyo pre-amp/receiver(?) and some monster amp by "ADCOM"."
Sounds like a very respectable start.
"Can I have good music qual with 2 nice speakers, or do I have to have front and rears?"
Certainly; two good speakers will sound better than 5 crappy ones. Besides CD's are recorded for stereo, not surround sound.
Given your room size I would suggest a sub along the lines of the HSU STF-1 ($299) and a set of bookshelf speakers to fill in the rest. Paradigm Mini-monitors and Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 would be good places to start there. I'm sure others will have more suggestions as well.
Thanks so much for the help. I've very much enjoyed reading previous banter from you all. It has also made me realize how subjective this is and that the connoisseur of sound himself should pick his speakers. Thanks again!