SteveAl wrote

I'm 'doing up' my office. Part of the deal with my wife is that I can
install a music system and therefore keep out of the living room even
more...
The last time I ventured into 'Hi-Fi' I bought an AVI CD/amp with Ruark
Talisman speakers. This has served us well for 10 or so years (and
continues to do so in the lounge).

I got all enthused about a pleasant, low key system to play mainly
accoustic folk and classical music. I read a few newsgroups and
magazines and they lead me, right or wrong, to buy a chinese valve amp
on Ebay. It's a single-ended 300B job, which I haven't received yet.

I'd like to build some horn-loaded speakers in the not too distant
future, but for now I'd like to buy a suitable, inexpensive pair of
used speakers (Ebay?). Can anyone suggest a suitable pair for a 9
watt/channel amp in my 17ft X 11ft room?

The other component I need is a CD player. I guess I could buy
something new like a Cambridge Azur job (or perhaps Arcam CD 73), but I
was wondering if used CD players of a slightly higher quality are a
sensible buy? Names like Cyrus, Naim, Marantz drift in from the mists
of time...

Any help with these would be appreciated.

Chinese doesn't say much about it...could be anything from the best to the
worst. It's a big place.

The chances are that the output transformers will be of poor quality...true of
most SETs, unfortunately, which is why they have an unnecessary reputation for
being unable to drive much bass, and for distorting what bass there is.

I'm not a speaker expert, but I guess it is important to get speakers that
present as flat a load as possible, as the amp will probably tend to emphasise
variations as a result of a highish output impedance.

Kind, sensitive standmounts, ones that don't need bullying into submission, I
suppose.

Now, I bet Trevor has a list of well-behaved standmounts or bookshelves suitable
for driving with low-power SETs in his head, but he won't say.

Hi-fi is a journey, not a destination. The suggestion that you must pick
speakers first, and then choose an amp, carries within it a fundamental
presupposition about the nature and purpose of domestic audio that is
ill-conceived, especially if you want to try the SET route. How can you listen
to the speakers without an amp? And vice-versa, of course.

Trevor would not be wherever he is without making mistakes.

Almost any CD player from a reputable producer should be OK. You pay for what
you get, so avoid features you don't need.

cheers, Ian