Modestly priced bookshelf speakers for cabin.


I have a small cabin in the country where I spend weekends.

Current system is a 1980's Toshiba 25wpc receiver I got in high school. Bose 2.2 bookshelf speakers that are about 28 years old. They actually sound okay to me most of the time. $14 Sony DVD/CD player from Goodwill.

Even though this 'system' is sufficient most of the time, I've got the hi-fi bug since getting my home system and I've started thinking about slowly upgrading the cabin system on the lowest budget I can.....since I can't really justify doing it at all. ;-)

Rarely do I do any serious listening down there but would like to be able to when I have the chance.

So my first step is to replace the Bose speakers. Looking to spend no more than $350 or so. Is it possible to significantly improve on the Bose at that price? (I'm assuming yes).

The only thing I've even considered is the Klipsch RB-61 IIs or RP 160Ms. Why Klipsch? Back in the 70's my eccentric uncle used to have a massive pair of them that I thought were cool. Open to other options and advice.

Thanks for any advice.


n80
I have built two systems for my girlfriend based on Spica TC-50s. A pair (used, of course) is available on Ebay for 300usd. You will need a decent pair of stands. But they were and continue to be remarkable speakers. 
I owned Bose 201 reflecting speakers 35 or 40 years ago, set up correctly in corners thought they were fantastic. I have a old Phillips DVD/VCR combo player I think sounds very good, through a yellow pages phone book on top even sounds better. In this crazy hobby building a resolving system with low cost gear is very rewarding. Sometimes it makes me question why I spend so much on my system.

@paulcreed, + 1. I am not surprised the phone book on top of your player has improved the sound. I recommend this to everyone, everywhere. Eliminating, or even minimizing, chassis resonance and vibration is real, and audible. I believe I mentioned this on another one of N80's threads concerning his low cost Sony cd player. Thank you for the mention of it. Enjoy ! MrD.