This topic pops up about three times a day on various forums and I've yet to find a definitive answer as to what speaker is the best, right, cleanest, yadda, yadda. What I can tell you is that you are going to have to do plenty of research as to what YOUR ears like. I personally am a new believer in this in that I currently own Paradigm 80's and thought I loved them and there wasn't a better speaker on the market. Okay, so I was deluding myself a bit. Upgraditis bit again and one day I narrowed it down to what I wanted to go for and that was the best midrange I could find. I ended up finding and building a pair of speakers that I just finished and they absolutely destroy my Paradigms. Add to the fact that they cost a bit less than the Paradigms. So what am I trying to say? I received all of this info on these forums and I think people were being honest about what they were saying, but the fact remains if you checked out these forums looking for the "best" speaker, you'd probably get every mid fi to hi fi speaker made. (Come on guys, you know this is true) To make a long story short, narrow it down to what you want in a speaker and look for that... controlled bass? liquid midrange? airy highs? that's your choice. When you've narrowed it down to a list, go and audition what you've jotted down. As for 2, 4, or 5 speakers, I would keep your old McIntosh and focus on getting 2 quality front speakers if you're going to do CD listening. Great speakers on a good amp will sound better than crappy speakers on an amazing amp. Do you even have a CD player yet? $1500.00 will go a LONG way on speakers that will fill your room and sound downright beautiful.
