B&W 650 Bookshelf Speakers for Music and 2ch HT?

Yes I agree with Paraneer. The B&W 685s are excellent standmount loudspeakers for the money and to start building with. They incorporate design features found in their much more expensive 800 series units such as FST and tapered tube tweeters. I had their predecessors the 601- S3s a few years back and then upgraded to the floorstander 683's. Loved the 601s but am crazy about the 683s for the money. Both produce amazing detail. Can't go wrong.

Your vintage Marantz 2230 is probably under powered for these B&Ws at 30 watts/channel RMS but it's a start. Consider a new Marantz or Rotel receiver.

FWIW, I use three B&W LCR 6 S2's for my front soundstage with B&W in ceiling surrounds. I have a Rotel receiver w/70 wpc and it powers the B&Ws just fine. The B&Ws work well for music and home theater and I have a big room. I picked up two Velodyne 10" subs (SPL10? I forget) for my low frequencies. Been using the speakers/subs for 11 years and they work great. The rotel is my second receiver after my Marantz died in year 6 (one year out of warranty) and it was a motherboard failure (no longer available) so I picked up the Rotel.

Hope that helps.

Thanks guys. Really appreciated the info

really good plan from Paraneer. I would consider if you piece together a HT system that you migrate to the .1 standard next before a 3.0 system. Opinions vary but I think you get more from a sub than a center. as well a sub can help you 2 channel system depending on your music of choice. Wish I had done what paraneer recommended back in the day.