Seeking help for budget speakers (2.0 or 3.0)

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

I'm a bit new (and not a native speaker) and I hope you'll forgive these questions which may appear to be a bit generic, and for which I haven't found many clues on the forum and reviews.

I am looking at various speakers to complement an old HC amp (Yamaha RX-V440RDS) I had in France and decided to bring back with me to Dublin: HC amplifiers remain expensive while I don't see much value in buying a new one just yet as I can live without HDMI.
Main uses will be shared between gaming and movies with the odd bit of music sometimes, all with the PS3 as a source so far.

My budget would be around 200€ for a 2.0 setup (or 250€ for a 3.0 setup), to which I would add elements over time.
The room is rather small, 20sqm. and I live in an apartment (so I'm staying clear from subwoofers at the moment)

1) Given the constraints above, I have been looking at Q Acoustics 2010 or Tannoy Custom F1 (+ Z2 stands), with the possible addition of a center speaker. I would imagine the Q Acoustics 2010 would be the easiest to add up new speakers to in the future?

2) Would it be a shame to use this old amp (5 stars in WhatHifi in... 2004 if I remember correctly ^^) with those speakers?

3) Just noticed that floorstanders such as the Mission M33i or Mv6 would remain in my pricepoint (not much dearer than bookshelf speakers + stands). Should I consider those or is the room just too small for such?

Thanks a lot in advance for your help. It's been 3 years since I've last had a decent enough sound system in my living room, and this has to stop

 

[Anonymous]

I got some nice looking wharfedale 9.1 and 9cc which was 150.00 for the set, thats in pounds so about the same in euro.

They have won more awards that you can count, and they do sound amazing with music and movies

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, canada16!

Though I sticked to Wharfedale, I found myself a nice deal on some Diamond 10.1 in a shop in Dublin (190? so cheaper than what I would have paid online) and decided to go for it. A bit dearer than what I intended to put into stereo speakers, but I'm quite happy with them. I've had them for a week now, and I'm more and more pleased each day (I can't wait to receive my stands as well).

Of course now, I'm beginning to regret being stuck with an AV amp (and one without any pre-outs), to which I mostly feed music (MP3 or even FLAC files streamed as LPCM from the computer and through the PS3 to AV amp).

I know this might deserve a post in Hi-fi instead but if anyone had thoughts on the various budget options I'm considering at the moment to try and improve a bit the stereo quality, that would be terrific (and hopefully inspiring):
1) Buy a DAC or external soundard: music from PC to cheap DAC or external soundcard (E-MU 202 or the likes) to AV amplifier
2) Buy a stereo amplifier: music from PC (Xtreme audio or MB chipset) to stereo amplifier. (But there would be no way to go through the AV amp, right?)
3) Buy a new AV amp and settle for something more music-friendly than my RX-V440, with pre-outs for the future, telling myself there would anyway be little difference compared to a stereo amp with such speakers?

Thanks!