I'll pay you to spec my home stereo system.
Room:55'x30' rectangle. Hardwood floors, bare walls, 70% windows, 2 couches and a small rug. I listen to jazz trio, solo piano, and big-band music. See me on FB if that helps - Paul Marcus, San Diego. Lucky you! Is that a converted barn?Large active PA speakers for that volume maybe? Do you want to fill the room at party levels or happy with a dedicated listening area at moderate volumes? No hint of a budget? Nico72 No. LOL. But the first floor of my new house has an open design... you know... kitchen/dining/liv room. No walls. And I can detect holes (where there's no music source). So gotta have balance.
Ugg10 Not party level. Dedicated listening at moderate volumes and mostly me - fam hates jazz LOL.
My plan: buy once very expensive, now used, wired speakers like circa 80's, 90's (Craig's list or like place). Place a converter on ea speaker to make wireless. And buy a bluetooth amp to receive YouTube and like streaming music from my cell. There will be no other music source. No turntable, no cd player, no TV, etc.
Hixs Budget. If I was buying new it be like $8,000 plus, for all components. Not goin that route. Largely, there's no need. Speakers were as good in yester-year as today... the downside they're bigger, not economized for size. I can deal with it. I think you may want to look at active speakers. For source, you can get two chrome cast audio devices, add them to a group to sync them and then connect the left output on one to one speaker and the right on the other to the other speaker. A pair of monobloc amps, one behind each speaker would do the job.
So,
Internet WiFi > Chromecast audio left analogue output (or through dac)> monoblock power amp> left speaker.
Same for right speaker.
Example of U.K. used buy as an example -
Chromecast audio £20 each
Audiolab 8300mb amps £1600 250w each into 8 ohms.
/proxy.php?image=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tf8AAOSwOXBdxsbn/s-l400.jpg&hash=ba5d40678cc0a1c5ea9c84d3181c70c1&return_error=1 Audiolab 8300MB Power Amplifier Pair - Black - Full Manufacturer’s Warranty| eBay Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Audiolab 8300MB Power Amplifier Pair - Black - Full Manufacturer’s Warranty at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products! www.ebay.co.uk
ATC SCM40 speaker £2850, renoun for their mid range clarity.
/proxy.php?image=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TIQAAOSweS5dvfX7/s-l400.jpg&hash=6915399269325488826f9a02b4267d67&return_error=1 ATC SCM 40 Speakers Satin White - New Shape| eBay This is reluctant sale of my ATC SCM 40 V2 White Satin speaker. These are seriously good speakers. Just brilliant! ATC 164mm bass driver. Hi-Fi Choice, October 2014. Flat impedance curve allowing easy load for amplifiers. www.ebay.co.uk
Review http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/HiFi-Choice-Oct-2014-ATC-SCM40.pdf
As a bonus add an audiolab m-dac between each of the Chromecast audio and the monoblocs to get the best out of them, £350 each second hand. Or active as @Hixs says, try these on for size -
/proxy.php?image=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/V1EAAOSwSuNdjjPA/s-l400.jpg&hash=489e14e478ce6080ca45063d14192f01&return_error=1 Focal TRIO6 Be Monitor Studio 450W New Warranty| eBay In essence, the Trio6 Be is a three-way speaker with a 1 "tweeter, a 5" woofer and an 8 "subwoofer. Focal Trio6 be. Driver 8 "Focal driver with composite sandwich W cone. Driver 5 "Focal driver with composite sandwich W cone. www.ebay.co.uk
And again add a Chromecast audio plus a better dac (audiolab m-dac) behind each.
The only issue I can find is that you will be controlling volume by the app you are streaming to it which may affect sound quality a little. Just re-read you comments, I took the $8000 as your budget but on second read this is the new price 20 years ago, so is the budget more like $2-3000?
If so, I’d Still go for the chrome cast audio as a streaming source but sonos connect are reasonable price and you can sync/group/pair them.
You could add a pair of Khadas Tone Board dacs (plus case from amazon) to get the best out of the digital signal.
Add a pair of Dynaudio bm15’s, Mackie hr824 or Adam a8x active monitors. Ugg10 You're implying two speakers are sufficient for my room. Won't I get imbalanced sound if the speakers are only at one end of the room? Figured I'd need 4. Two at ea end.
Or, I never thought about it... but I suppose I could place 2 speakers in the middle of the rectangle (that's the shape of the room). But then the direction of sound is going perpendicular to the length of the room. Don't I need to get a surround effect?
What about sub-woofers?