warpdrive

I have been looking at solutions myself. Right now, I'm using a EMU 0404 USB Audio Interface. It acts as a DAC and has a volume controlled line out. Sounds pretty decent. Another alternative would be to buy NuForce Icon which functions the same but also has a speaker amp (not very strong though at 13W per channel). If you already have a DAC, you can get a Headroom Micro Amp which I have had good experience with. Lastly, if you just need a volume control, you could just buy a passive one like a NHT PVC PC With some of the better headphone amp with built in-DAC units, you can use the headphone out directly and plug your speakers into that. If the headphone amp is well designed, it is essentially a preamp because it will be designed to handle the high impedance of the active speaker properly.

Just got one of the Microvee subs http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2646/009np7.jpg The thing is TINY and sounds very good too. Just enough ooomph to help out the bottom end. Don't really need it but it's handy to have around for watching movies

I like 'em! These sound like very good bookshelf speakers. They give my CM1's a run for the money, and they are better than my Epos ELS3 bookshelf speakers in smoothness, and bass quality. I am still experimenting with positioning and the rear EQ controls. I think they are a bit bright out of the box but hopefully they will break in a bit. Right now, I'm running them out through my Headroom Micro DAC and am using my Micro Amp as a preamp. The price is steep for computer speakers, but I figured you can't go wrong with Dynaudio product that is basically a pro level product used by many studios, and certainly I will get lots of use out of it. I had searched a long time researching various amp/speaker configurations but none really appealed to me in terms of the complete package (something good quality, still compact, easy (fewer boxes))

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5919/dynaudio032un1.jpg http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7131/dynaudio027uy1.jpg http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/6338/dynaudio037fm3.jpg http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2189/dynaudio038wx7.jpg http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/8035/dynaudio006ra9.jpg http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5162/dynaudio041no6.jpg http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/66/dynaudio019jt4.jpg

These speakers will be more high end than my main HT system! Should be nice though