2 months ago ebay'd my Tannoy Reveal 5a's (one tweeter blew) and followed this path:
- the Icon and borrowed some Def Tech Promonitor 800's from the basement
- then decided they weren't good enough so found some Energy RC-Mini's (after deciding I'd get killed by buying Totem Mite's...) paired with Mirage 8" Sub
- Bass of speakers, even isolated on the desk was a bit boomy, so built some solid maple 'mini' stands for the speakers to get them at ear level and away from desk. Rearranged office. Eliminated boom, and now look cool as all hell.
- they (RC-Mini's) were good enough but mismatched with the Icon so introduced a higher noise floor than normal with the icon, perserved through numerous replacement boards on the icon, till it's apparent it just ain't going to work with these speakers
- discovered Audiogon and bought a Sophia Baby amp yesterday. Should be arriving shortly ..
Planning to do Mac > Icon > Headphone out > Kimber Kable Mini(maybe!) > Sophia > ? cable > Energy's (wired inline with Sub)
Also going to get a solid hunk of reclaimed timber as a shelf to mount the Sophia, Icon etc on above desk. Should look awesome.
Any more and I'm in serious trouble - my saving grace is that I'm pretty much 100% home office so it's somewhat justifiable.
The only problem after the Icon/Energy combo is I head to the basement and (I know I know, this is a journey of enlightenment) the ole Polk/Yamaha combination sounds exceedingly muddy.