[Mal Thomas]

Long story short: power amp died (probably old age) don't want to spend
good money for repairs - wanted to take opportunity to get a new one.

Anyway, decided initially to wait, save some money, then hit the internet
and local shops.

But in the mean time I needed to play music..I mean it's what we do right ?

So anyway, the wife and I lumped the Cerwin Vega's off their stands in the
lounge and moved my Fostex PM2's (active) off the iMac and placed them on
the stands. I hooked them up to the valve pre-amp and used iTunes (of all
things) via an Airport Express and an external DAC.

Well bugger me, the sound I'm listening to now is mind-blowing. The
soundstage is wide, deep, I have detail coming out of every musical orifice
so much so that my world has been turned upside down ;-) Now the Fostex
only have an 8" LF driver so I had to boost the LF a bit using the EQ on the
iMac to put some timbre and richness into the sound..but even so, Wow !

Now...this has got me thinking, rather than dump a load of cash on a new
power amp, I am wondering whether I should look for a decent pair of
floorstanding Active speakers. A quick look around Google hasn't turned up
much yet.

Is this because large floor mounted active speakers don't have a market or
am I simply not looking hard enough ??

Budget is about $3k-5K aussie dollars.

Cheers
Mal
Oz