I would like advice for a beginner.

Great question, Baileyje, and another subject of controversy in the audiophile community. 90% here would recommend a metal stand where the floor:stand:speaker are all coupled rigidly with things like spikes, or the like, at each interface. On the other hand, you could take the advice of someone like Robert E. Greene, (writes for The Absolute Sound;teaches math and acoustics at UCLA; is a perfoming violinist; produced the Philadelphia Orchestra's "Natures Realm" cd; etc...) who finds that rigid stands serve to move resonances up to the speaker. He recommends DECOUPLING the speaker from the stand. Let the speaker do it's thing! Let the stand be rigid for safety, but have a little fun and try it once with blue tack, and then again with something soft, between the speaker and stand. Let your ears be the judge.

Good luck,

Charlie

Baileyje,

As to B&W speakers...if you like them, I recommend you buy them! (I was just referring to the most common complaint from those that did not find them to their liking.) Room acoustics and speaker positioning are varied, so it makes sense that opinions are differing. Home auditions are a must!

Charlie

Also Ascend Acoustics CBM-170 are a terrific value. I found the mids a bit etched for my taste but they are exceptionally transparent and dynamic.
CBM-170.
I like concrete blocks for stands. They are cheap and totally dead. Not the best looking however.
Charlie, you are hearing bright electronics, not speakers. What is this with the bright all the time? And Yamaha, Truth, and Mackie used in pro studios aren't bright? Engineers who work in the business need speakers to be accurate as part of their job. Most audiophile speakers are pretty watered down compared to real pro-monitors.

Cdc,

We certainly disagree on this subject, and I suppose we could debate this another time...

The concrete block stands sound interesting, though.

Take care,

Charlie

After getting the speakers, cables are next - they do reward. 10% of your systems cost to cables sounds reasonable. Get them used. You can get some here on audiogon.

You might like speakercity.com EFE speaker ($330). Nice highs you can listen for a long time. They got some good reviews.

Niles audio outdoor speakers are also nice and soft sounding with a good transparent souding tweeter.

You said you bought the Yamaha coz the salesman told you they were work horses - without being too cynical, next time please take what the audio salesmen say with a grain of salt. They have become experts at selling at our price point.

Yamahas sound pretty good especially for what you payed for them.

I would read Hifichoice.co.uk although even magazines are sometimes biased toward those companies placing ads on them. The advices here are good, and also you can chat alive on audioasylum.com Since you were a music teacher, your ears must be well developed - having heard many alive music. In the end, I would say buy what you like. That sounds so simple, but you will be the one listening to it, so it should please you, despite what other's recommend.

I teach music too - cello and piano. Nice to see someone who has made his vocation avocation, and still loving it. I hope tobe that lucky after I retire.

I too got into this hobby not too long ago. It's tempting to keep upgrading, but I decided to enjoy my system for at least an year before upgrading, coz others have warned me about the constant upgrade bug.

It certainly is an exciting hobby. Reminds me of an artist going to a great length in search of beauty. There is a lot we can learn to tweak our system to sound better. I wouldn't open a unit without knowing safety measures first though!

Have fun... and welcome aboared.