I've been planning on buying a setup for quite a while now but am struggling to make up my mind because I've got a number of competing requirements and constraints, some of which are self imposed.
I want a setup to run at my desk while I work. This means I want to be able to listen to the music my PC generates, an iPod, and I'm thinking a hifi CD player would be good to add to the mix too. Masses of volume won't help because the speakers are about 80cm from my head. I would like there to be bass, and I guess that sound quality is the primary consideration.
This makes me think I could get an Arcam Solo Mini, and then some Arcam Muso speakers, which would be conveniently small, and maybe a Logo subwoofer (although I haven't been able to figure out if the Arcam Solo Mini has an output for this). Or I could get some B&W 685 speakers, which fit with my untested idea that the stereo imaging might be better because (with no personaI evidence) I don't trust the theory that bass from subwoofers in non-directional. I am unsure whether listening to 685s this close would be enjoyable.
And then I was enticed away from the idea of this setup by Epoz Aktimate Maxis. These don't have a CD player built in, but have the advantage that I could move them to my other room where I want to play loud electric guitar along to CDs and MP3s.
The things I am trying to factor in to my solution are:
Do I need two systems or just one. No matter how portable the Epoz speakers, I somehow doubt whether I will want to cart them from room to room when I want to play guitar.
We are having solar panels installed, which has focused my attention on energy consumption. Whatever system I have attached to my PC I would like to use little energy because it's on for about 18 hours a day. We recently reconfigured our home cinema system when I realised that running the PS3 through our Sony STRDA2400ES when the kids are playing games adds an extra 360 watts of power consumption, effectively doubling our energy usage.
In summary, does anyone have a magical suggestion for the components I should think about please?
I want a setup to run at my desk while I work. This means I want to be able to listen to the music my PC generates, an iPod, and I'm thinking a hifi CD player would be good to add to the mix too. Masses of volume won't help because the speakers are about 80cm from my head. I would like there to be bass, and I guess that sound quality is the primary consideration.
This makes me think I could get an Arcam Solo Mini, and then some Arcam Muso speakers, which would be conveniently small, and maybe a Logo subwoofer (although I haven't been able to figure out if the Arcam Solo Mini has an output for this). Or I could get some B&W 685 speakers, which fit with my untested idea that the stereo imaging might be better because (with no personaI evidence) I don't trust the theory that bass from subwoofers in non-directional. I am unsure whether listening to 685s this close would be enjoyable.
And then I was enticed away from the idea of this setup by Epoz Aktimate Maxis. These don't have a CD player built in, but have the advantage that I could move them to my other room where I want to play loud electric guitar along to CDs and MP3s.
The things I am trying to factor in to my solution are:
Do I need two systems or just one. No matter how portable the Epoz speakers, I somehow doubt whether I will want to cart them from room to room when I want to play guitar.
We are having solar panels installed, which has focused my attention on energy consumption. Whatever system I have attached to my PC I would like to use little energy because it's on for about 18 hours a day. We recently reconfigured our home cinema system when I realised that running the PS3 through our Sony STRDA2400ES when the kids are playing games adds an extra 360 watts of power consumption, effectively doubling our energy usage.
In summary, does anyone have a magical suggestion for the components I should think about please?
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