I used to have the Edirol 10A speakers/active monitors. It looks like Edirol has gone to a slightly nicer MA15, and a slightly downgraded 7A. They were pretty nice, so I'd guess they'd not be a bad solution with a nice pricetag.
For my living room (non-listening room) solution, I'm now using the Audioengine A5's, fed by either an ipod or a squeezebox. The A5's are much nicer than the Edirol 10A's I had. Audioengine also makes an A2 version, which I suspect will sound better than the 7A's, though I haven't heard either.
Just checking around, I saw this:
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=95368So they are a bit more than the top end of your price range (at $170 shipped), but I'd guess they'd be a nice option.
I also had been running a Trends TA-10 t-amp with a pair of Soliloquy Sat5's for my computer, which I replaced for awhile with Polk RT-15's. The trends amp is a bit more expensive, but it is basically the same design of amp as the Sonic T-Amp that I think Nick had posted about.
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,122589.0.htmlParts Express has a Dayton version of the T-amp, that looks the same as the Sonic:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380At only $45, you could get that and pair it with a used pair of bookshelf speakers. As I said, I ran my T-amp with a pair of Polk RT-15's, and you can get a pair of similar Polks (RT15, RTi15, RT25, RTi25) for $50-75 shipped from ebay. For my money, the Dayton T-amp and a pair of decent bookshelf speakers will sound much better than the 7A's, though for an easy setup the Audioengine A2's are worth looking into.
As more an aside, since it really isn't why I was posting these thoughts, you might be able to convince me to part with my Polk RT15's. I just moved and I'm trying to decide what to put where. I might use my Sat5's wall mounted (above my 2 year olds reach) for my main playback and use the RT15's with the T-amp for the computer, or I might use the Sat5's on the computer setup, and put my old Polk Monitor 5's onto the main playback system. Ultimately, at some point I want to upgrade/reinvest in better main playback speakers, but that needs to wait until Elise stops wanting to poke holes in my drivers.
EDIT: If you want to act quickly, here's a pair of RT25's going on ebay with an auction that ends in a few hours:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160351789632
Topic: These Things Worth a Crap? Edirol MA-7A (Recomendations Welcome) (Read 7170 times)