Space being a premium, I replaced my lesson studio system with a necessarily small "bookshelf" system of integrated Yamaha amp/cd/tuner and separate speakers. To this I added an older Luxman cassette player which I'm hesitant to replace simply because cassettes seem to be going the way of the Dodo. I picked up a smallish subwoofer which sits unseen on the floor and makes the system sound much better, but the room is only about 11' by 11' with an 8' ceiling.

I looked around alot before I bought this stuff because I came from the bigger is better school of '70s stereo purchasing and was unconvinced about small speaker systems. Partly because I don't listem to music at the same loud levels that I did in my 20s, and because my tastes have evolved a little, I'm more than satisfied with the present gear. Speaker technology IS better nowadays, and the subwoofer serves me well. I'm not done tinkering with speaker placement yet, but the sub can sit almost anywhere and not screw up the audio field.

The thing that got me was that this still sounds better (headphones proved it to me) than my older but much bigger previous gear. I think the amps and players of today are better sounding than they were 10 years ago.

My heart still skips a beat when I visit a high end audio shop, but for under a grand Canadian (tax in) I did well. If I had the space and cash I would have bought discrete components, but having neither I still satisfied.

Peace and good luck. Mooh.