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What to do about speakers?

I'm afraid this is another one of those "I'm building my first system and don't know a thing about how to do it - Please help" threads.
But seriously, after thinking about it and casualy scouting equipment for a few years I've finally started to build my first "real" system.
A little background first. (sit back and get comfortable this may take a bit) My wife plays the cello (not professionaly) and her father was an audio tech. with CBC Radio for years before he moved up to management and recently retired; so she has a well trained ear and enjoys good sound. I, on the other hand, do not have ears quite as well trained but am completely in love with music and enjoy hearing the little details.
That being said, we are just starting out (married only 2 years, she in grad-school me going into teachers collage) and so are not about to drop $??000.00 on speakers or the like.
Now for the meaty stuff.- I recently purchased my first piece of audiophillia technica - namely the much touted Rega Planar 3 turntable (yes he said P-L-A-N-A-R-3, not P3- it was the right price) and I'm running it with a dennon DL160 Cart. Yes, yes I know the speakers should have come first. But you see I've wanted the Rega for about 8 years now since I first saw one, so when I decided to start building my system I just couldn't ressit starting with it. Unfortunately this TT is being amplified by a (now grab a pillow to muffle your screams of abject horror) Marantz 2215 b integrated amp/tuner and, even worse, the speakers are from my highschool days and came with some cheap system I puchased at Sears. Before christmas (when I bought the Rega) I was using a pair of JBL-L112's but unfortunately they were not to surrvive the trip to the in-law's over the hollidays.)
So as I can no longer stand these speakers I am looking for replacements. My wife and I are currently renting and will probably do a fair bit moving around over the next 5-7 years so fitting the speakers to the room this system is in doesn't make much sense; suffice it to say it will be in the average sized living room of whatever average sized house we wil be living our average sized lives in. As far as price range we are looking in the $500-$700 range. I've done some reaserch, but must admit I'm quite baffled by all the speaker-tech that I come across .
I was thinking that a set of full range speakers was what I was looking for but then I realized that I don't know what the differance is between: Full Range, 2 channel, centre channel etc. is. So why would one purchase say a two channel speaker over a full range speaker?
I've been told(by my father-in-law and my hi-fi freak uncle) that the JBL S38 model would suit what I'm looking for, however, I thought maybe something like the Mission 701, or 761 series might be better but I really haven't the fainest, any help would be greatly appriciated.
Oh as for musical tastes, well as both my wife and I will be using the system say everything from the Beatles to Bartok, or the Smiths to Satie, or even Coltrane to Mahler.(Copeland to Guided by voices Anyone?)
And yes the amp will be next -but that's another forum.
Sorry for the ridiculosly long post and thanks to anyone who actualy read all of it. Thanks also in advance for your wonderfully witty, insightful, and incredibly helpful responses.
P.S. sory for any typeos:< ( oh And for anyone wondering It should be pronounced CHAS- when I registered it the name was taken so I had to be creative - ug!
Cheers.

tchas

Showing 2 responses by tchas

tchas OP
2 posts
 
Well I must say that after checking out the provided links the Athenas, Europas, Silents, and 301's are the ones that we will probably be focussing on. Yes I said WE Timf, Jessica, my lovely wife, will be involved in building, using this system; and yes you read correctly she has very well trained ears, and I respect her observations about sound and oh so many other things! [ she's probably going to see this post:)]She has good ears but doesn't care much for reading reviews, doing research and the like, for her it's all about listening, and how components sound. So my job is to do the research and come up with a short list for us to audition then we chat a-bit and decide on which one we will get.

We were both thinking that when we eventually replace the Marantz we will probably go with a good tube amp.

Thanks for all your help folks. I'll let you know how things go.
tchas OP
2 posts
 
Thanks again for all your help fellas? ( I wonder how many women are regulars here?) Those Athena ASF2's look prety tempting, and thanks for the info about the Marantz Rich. I just supposed that because I got it used for $100.00(Can.) a few years ago that the phono stage it has couldn't be do justice to the Rega; although, when I think about it, when I hooked up the Rega my wife and I were quite astounded at the improvement in the sound - there seemed to be more space between the different elements in the recordings, obviously this has more to do with the TT and tonearm, but if the amp were totaly worthless I don't suppose it would be half as noticeable ( or would it? Bah! I don't have a clue about this stuff! all I know is that the amp sounds fine for now - I mostly put in the derrisive coments about the Marantz 'cus I was a little intimidated by the "OH MY GOD THSE GUYS HAVE INDIVIDUAL PIECES OF EQUIPMENT WORTH MORE THAN ALL THE CARS I'VE OWNED COMBINED" factor-nuff said.)
The Europa's also seem to be a promissing prospect.I think, for now anyway, it's between these two. Sorry Swampwalker, the Vandersteens are a little too big and blocky for my aesthic tastes.

Now, can someone please explain why some Full range/Limited Extension speakers have a Woofer, Midrange and Tweeter, while others, with simillar frequency response, have only a woofer and tweeter? Is one type generally better than the other. Keeping in mind this is for turntable/Tuner primary source system.
Thanks again.
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