Quote Originally Posted by Resident Loser
...I don't see anything wrong with your choices...you might not need the sub since the Polks have a -3dB point @30Hz (which BTW to all and sundry ARE floorstanders if the spikes are any indication)...unless of course you listen to Bach organ works, classical with heavy tympani and basso continuo or electronica...

You have to keep in mind the opinions/suggestions you will get at sites like this reflect a great deal of personal preferences/biases to specfic mfrs.on the part of the respondents. Add to the fact that mfrs. like Polk and HK are mass market items, which have in some way "demeaned" themselves in the eyes of some folks simply because they like to make a profit and advertise quite a bit...I say rubbish...

Ultimately it's up to you to decide, most importantly you have to like the sound of the loudspeakers and that choice will dictate to a great degree the power requirements of the receiver or integrated amp or pre-/power combo...And I mention those other alternatives for your consideration depending on how involved you intend to get in this hobby. As an aside, your HK choice has the required facilities for future expansion.

There are other mfrs. on par with your choices...Klipsch or Infinity for speakers, Denon, Marantz and Yamaha for the electronics...all of which are readily available and won't require subjecting yourself to the likes of eBay and/or snooty audio "shoppes" who sell limited distributor wares at non-competitive prices.

jimHJJ(...good sound on the cheap...)
Why must you always get so intellectual???? LOL

Seriously though, there are a number of good points in this post....

The major ones being:

1) That you need to listen and decide for yourself what you like. That's the golden rule of audiophilia... we can make suggestions, but they will all be based on our personal preferences.

2) Don't just dismiss products because they are mass market. there are 2 sides to the mass market arguement (as far as I'm concerned, neither side is 100% correct)...

Side 1 - taken by many many many audiophiles is that all mass market stuff is crap. That true quality sound can only be achieved by hand made stereo products produced in a small studio in England or North America.... Now there is a certain element of truth to this point as many market products are more focused on jamming in useless features than on producing high quality audio... but there also strong points against it.

Side 2 - Mass market has the advantage of economies of scale. A major trend in audio (and manufacturing in general) is to use offshore factories to take advantage of cheap labour in other countries. Assuming that the mass market product is properly designed then offshore production is a great way to reduce costs..... now arguements against offshore are that the products are being assembled by cheap labour, who know nothing about audio...

Personally, my only concern is that top class engineers etc.. are used to design the product. after that I could care less where it is manufactured and to be honest I'd prefer it to be manufactured using cheaper labour, since that means I can get a quality product for far less than if it was hand assemebled by the actual designer in a small shop. You don't need an audio engineer with two or three PhDs to assemble a product! You just need someone who can follow instructions to do assembly. the design stage and the quality control inspections are the most important parts of the process....

So all that being said....

For a $2k Budget I would get a Marantz PM7001 Integrated Amp for $650 a pair of Monitor Audio RS6 floorstanders for $999... (and a Marantz CD5001 with the remaining cash) but keep in mind that I'm a strictly 2 channel audio guy... so I could care less about HT...