Was a lot of fun speaker shopping and trying to learn all about streaming music all at once. I listened to the SS8, Aerial 7T, Focal 1038be and the Revel Studio 2. Definitely not a bad speaker in the list and ultimately the decisions are just a personal preference choice. What I am looking forward to is not being married to a piece of equipment and changing out components in the future.
In the end I got a killer deal on the Studio 2's and couldn't say no. Thought they sounded like a really well rounded speaker with no weak spots. Silky smooth highs, noticeable mids and decent bass too. I can't ask for more really. I have an HT system with 3 JTR Triple 12LF's and 8 18" CHT subs, so if I ever want the brute concert effect I'll head downstairs to the basement. What started all this is I just moved and do not have a finished basement right now. Got sick and tired of listening to music via iPhone and Bose docking system so I went out and put together a decent 2 channel setup. Also chose the Hegel H300 as my integrated amp.
Plan is to use my Oppo bdp83 via optical cable to the Hegel for a few select CD's that I just bought. Rather than go the Mac Mini route I am very interested in the Salk Stream and will probably go with that unit to stream music to the Hegel.
That's about it for now Hopefully all the toys arrive by the weekend and I can have some fun!!