I'll pay you to spec my home stereo system.

pmarc

Room:  55'x30' rectangle. Hardwood floors, bare walls, 70% windows, 2 couches and a small rug. I listen to jazz trio, solo piano, and big-band music. See me on FB if that helps - Paul Marcus, San Diego.

Nico72

Lucky you! Is that a converted barn?
Large active PA speakers for that volume maybe?

Ugg10

Do you want to fill the room at party levels or happy with a dedicated listening area at moderate volumes?

Hixs

No hint of a budget?

pmarc

Nico72   No. LOL. But the first floor of my new house has an open design... you know... kitchen/dining/liv room. No walls. And I can detect holes (where there's no music source). So gotta have balance.

Ugg10 Not party level. Dedicated listening at moderate volumes and mostly me - fam hates jazz LOL.

My plan: buy once very expensive, now used, wired speakers like circa 80's, 90's (Craig's list or like place). Place a converter on ea speaker to make wireless. And buy a bluetooth amp to receive YouTube and like streaming music from my cell. There will be no other music source. No turntable, no cd player, no TV, etc.

Hixs Budget. If I was buying new it be like $8,000 plus, for all components. Not goin that route. Largely, there's no need. Speakers were as good in yester-year as today... the downside they're bigger, not economized for size. I can deal with it.

Hixs

I think you may want to look at active speakers.

Ugg10

For source, you can get two chrome cast audio devices, add them to a group to sync them and then connect the left output on one to one speaker and the right on the other to the other speaker. A pair of monobloc amps, one behind each speaker would do the job.

So,

Internet WiFi > Chromecast audio left analogue output (or through dac)> monoblock power amp> left speaker.

Same for right speaker.

Example of U.K. used buy as an example -

Chromecast audio £20 each

Audiolab 8300mb amps £1600 250w each into 8 ohms.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Audiolab 8300MB Power Amplifier Pair - Black - Full Manufacturer’s Warranty  | eBay                                                                                                        Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Audiolab 8300MB Power Amplifier Pair - Black - Full Manufacturer’s Warranty at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.ebay.co.uk                                                                               
ATC SCM40 speaker £2850, renoun for their mid range clarity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ATC SCM 40 Speakers Satin White - New Shape  | eBay                                                                                                        This is reluctant sale of my ATC SCM 40 V2 White Satin speaker. These are seriously good speakers. Just brilliant! ATC 164mm bass driver. Hi-Fi Choice, October 2014. Flat impedance curve allowing easy load for amplifiers.                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.ebay.co.uk                                                                                 
Review http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/HiFi-Choice-Oct-2014-ATC-SCM40.pdf

As a bonus add an audiolab m-dac between each of the Chromecast audio and the monoblocs to get the best out of them, £350 each second hand.

Ugg10

Or active as @Hixs says, try these on for size -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Focal TRIO6 Be Monitor Studio 450W New Warranty  | eBay                                                                                                        In essence, the Trio6 Be is a three-way speaker with a 1 "tweeter, a 5" woofer and an 8 "subwoofer. Focal Trio6 be. Driver 8 "Focal driver with composite sandwich W cone. Driver 5 "Focal driver with composite sandwich W cone.                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.ebay.co.uk                                                                               
And again add a Chromecast audio plus a better dac (audiolab m-dac) behind each.

The only issue I can find is that you will be controlling volume by the app you are streaming to it which may affect sound quality a little.

Ugg10

Just re-read you comments, I took the $8000 as your budget but on second read this is the new price 20 years ago, so is the budget more like $2-3000?

If so, I’d Still go for the chrome cast audio as a streaming source but sonos connect are reasonable price and you can sync/group/pair them.

You could add a pair of Khadas Tone Board dacs (plus case from amazon) to get the best out of the digital signal.

Add a pair of Dynaudio bm15’s, Mackie hr824 or Adam a8x active monitors.

pmarc

Ugg10 You're implying two speakers are sufficient for my room. Won't I get imbalanced sound if the speakers are only at one end of the room? Figured I'd need 4. Two at ea end.

Or, I never thought about it... but I suppose I could place 2 speakers in the middle of the rectangle (that's the shape of the room). But then the direction of sound is going perpendicular to the length of the room. Don't I need to get a surround effect?

What about sub-woofers?