Upgrading bedroom system

[Chief]

I'm looking to upgrade my stereo in my bedroom soon but wanted to know what the best way to go about it was.

I only listen to music in MP3 format via PC and even though I know exactly what quality they are (ripped by myself with EAC+LAME etc) they're obviously not CD quality.

I'd like to get something decent like a separates system but I need to know that it wont be money wasted as my source is "rubbish" as it were. So far I've been looking at:

An amp (haven't looked yet)
Speakers - B&W 602 S3 around £300 and a relative bargain (so I've heard). Could look for some second hand.

Acoustic Energy Aego 'M' System - Now £99. The mk1 system used to sell for £300 I think so this also seems like a bargain.

ProMedia 2.1 and ProMedia GMX A-2.1 - haven't really looked at these much, but have heard good things about them.

Would the B&W speakers absolutely blow away the Aego M system?

I'd like to spend £300 as a max but I always look for the best bang for my buck/quid so if the separates dont 'sound' £200+ more than the Aego's then I'd get the Aegos. Similarly, if theres nothing that sounds as good as the B&W's for anywhere near the price I'd rather get those than want to upgrade from one of the other systems later on.

Also, I dont have any room for floorstanders unfortunately. I'd need to have bookshelf + sub if necessary.

Comments?

 

[commited]

First of all, you WONT NEED A SUB. In my opinion of course (especially if you go for 602s)

Second of all - There is no "better, best" etc in hifi - it's mostly down to personal opinion. Go down to superfi/Richersounds etc and demo all the stuff up to what you can afford.

If you're willing to go second hand, the world is your oyster, so to speak. An identical amplifier to what I just sold, Arcam 8R, just went on ebay for £107. That's a bargain imho. I've never seen one go that cheap before, but maybe that's whats happening to the prices. Only disadvantage with used is the inability of doing side by side demos. If you find you like the 602's, you could pick up the S1s or S2's cheap second hand - they arent that much different.

 

[Chief]

Thanks for that, I'll be demo-ing as many of these as possible over the next few weeks.

However, what I dont want is for the system to be good enough to reveal any bad quality in the music. Will a budget amp plus the B&W speakers be too revealing? Or will only a live demo tell this?

 

[commited]

You're going to have to pick carefully if you want a sympathetic system.

Bring something like Queens "made in heaven" to the demo - its a very very harsh recording.