Hello all,

I'm new here, and pretty new to the audio world. By way of introduction, I live in Victoria BC -- home of RGA's fav dealer I have only been interested in audio for about a year and half. That's when we bought a new house and I thought that it was time I got something better than computer speakers for sound.

Anyway, knowing nothing about this I bought a budget system consisting of a pair of Paradigm Phantoms, a Denon receiver (DRA395) and a Denon CD changer. And I absolutely loved it! I later added a pair of B&W DM600's for the kitchen - I've got an extremely open floor plan, so adding a small pair of speakers has really helped to fill the main living space with music.

Now, I'm starting to think I'd like to upgrade the Phantoms - I've been reading almost every review I can find (and finding most of them pretty useless) and listening to what I can.

So far I've auditioned Paradigm Studio 40's and B&W 603's, and I have to say that while I liked both, my preference was for the 603's. I know that B&W is getting slagged alot on this forum, but I really loved the sound and the looks of the 603's.

Oh, and looks do count as these speakers sit in a living room and I've got to make some concessions to the wife. I am next going to audition something from Boston Acoustics, probably the VR2 or VR3, but I'm not too sure what else I should listen to. Any suggestions?

Incidently, I wholeheartedly agree with RGA regarding Soundhounds - they are a class act (in fact, I just got back from there where I listened to a number of my CDs, and I've rarely had the pleasure of dealing with a business that is so helpful and accomodating).

Thanks for any thoughts or ideas,

Bill