I'll try to be succint!
I was trying to keep it simple, but the truth of my situation is I am building two good stereo systems. One is for family/common use (to share good audio with my daughter) and the other is for my man-cave. The catch is that I really don't want to log serious time in the man-cave until we reach empty nest status. The other part of the equation is the WAF is strong in the family room
,
whereas the man-cave is wide-open!
I started about 5 months ago negotiating decor concerns with my wife. After getting some forum assurance that quality sound could be had, a 2.1 bookshelf system is where we ended. I began the auditioning process and think I have arrived at Paradigm Signature S-1 v2 as my current champion.
Along the way, several people had suggested I try the SongSurrond bookshelf. I was looking at the Salk site and realized that if I was going to place an order with Salk it
had to be for the SongTowers (by this time, I had come across and read Nuance's "journey"). That is a pretty big chunk of change. I researched the tweeter through Jim and Dennis (concluding the RT was the best choice), and I put it on the back burner. I went back to auditioning bookshelf speakers.
Throughout this time, I was keeping my ear to the ground on AudioGon, and K Shep's ST offering gave me the opportunity to pull the trigger.
So, I have two rooms. The family room will get no acoustic treatments (EQ only, if needed) and the bookshelf speakers will actually go on the bookshelf (one reason to lean towards a sealed design). (I have encouraged my wife to look for some nice tapestries she would like on the walls.) The Song Towers will go in the man-cave where they will see comparatively infrequent use. That is the default plan.
Assuming I prefer the SongTowers, the "Hail Mary" play is that during my audition period my wife will take note of the beauty of the ST's and comment that she wouldn't mind them in the family room. While a long shot, I know her tastes and the ST's in Cherry have a better chance than any other speaker I have seen.
So, plenty of key info has yet to be defined, but your responses have been pretty useful in helping me frame the decision-making process. I like to be sitting on go when the new toys come in!
As for 2.0 or 2.1, I'll try them both ways and see if the benefit justifies the cost of a sub. I've been playing with the SVS SB12-Plus long enough that I know I will need to do some bass EQ in the family room. The Sansui does have pre-amp outputs (as well as main-amp inputs), so I can add a sub there. However, I will miss out on the benefit of off-loading some bass from the ST's since there is no bass management on the amp.
As for separates, the Sansui is better than many integrated amps - with its dual mono design. I also have a 100 WPC Carver TFM-15cb which I can drive with the Sansui pre-amp, but I'm not sure if this is a better option or not?
Thanks!