System upgrade needed - thoughts welcome!

[Mike Reed]

Don't see SBLs either side of a bay being a problem. With that room, you're not really going to look at large floor-standers or, indeed, ported speakers. Briks would do you, but doubt the amplification is up to it. You ideally need i.b. (sealed box) speakers against the solid wall, and I can't think of any big (and sensitive) enough to transform your bass output, though some older seventies models come to mind. However, I'm out of touch with larger modern i.b. designs, if there are any.

SBLs are a bit on the cool side (I've had them with 52/250), but I'm wondering if a complete change of horses to a fairly powerful integrated might expand your horizons. The suggestion above of active speakers (ATC?) might fit the bill (assuming they're not ported.

 

[kensalriser]

Done a bit of research now and focusing on the likes of PMC OB1, Twenty 24, Spendor D7. Like the look of the PMC FACT 8 but probably a bit beyond budget - I see a few cheeky sellers of the superseded model quoting the new price for the Signature version as the original price. Ruled out the ATC SMC40 as too heavy, I want speakers I can position or move myself, which means max 25 kilos.

Cleaned all the speaker plugs which made a surprisingly audible difference.

Good call on not getting another CD player. Now my old Arcam A5 is back on stream, I think the next move will be a Naim HDX or something equivalent, preferably with NAS.