The Topping amp I have is rated at 2x80W at 2 ohm and 2x50W at 8ohm; the extra power does mean it costs a bit more (~£140 new) but you can get lower power T amps for much less (used to have an Indeed TA2021 which was 1/3 the size and price of the T60). The T60 also has dual toroidal transformers built in.
People often recommend bypassing any tone controls on the amp to preserve quality.
Yeah, you’ll find the smaller TA2020s (the 15W ones) for like £20; it’s crazy.
Indeed, the Teac - as with most decent hifi amps - actually have a separate “direct” path through the amp which bypasses the preamp section almost entirely. For home usage, though, I’d be inclined to match up a T-amp with a dedicated DIY preamp module as I prefer the control. Apparently they work very nicely with valve preamp stages as the amp itself is very, very flat; so all of the character comes from the valve stage.
Thanks for all of the great advice, guys. I really appreciate it. I think I’ll be looking for some used passive speakers and a new (small) amp.
Good man 
If it helps, some of the Micro systems out there made by the HIGH END manufacturers (Onkyo, Denon, Teac, etc) are reasonable, power and quality wise; their only downside tends to be a relatively basic power supply (small transformers and caps) with less smoothing, but nothing you’d notice playing MP3 tracks on.
Specifically, things like this: Pardon our interruption...
I used to use those for monitoring with a Cambridge Audio amp (bedroom dj) and they were excellent for a low/mid range hifi speaker, I still use them as part of my living room setup, connected to my decks also. I now use Wharfedale Diamond Active 8.1’s for monitoring which also sound excellent for low/mid level monitors. I don’t find them lacking in bass at all.
Liking the sound of these Wharfdale Diamonds. Plenty of "em on eBay, too.,.
Make sure you get the 9.1s not the 9.0s, which have virtually no bass whatsoever as they’re PURELY designed as mid/highs. Most of these bookshelf speakers have 5/6 inch cones, but the size of the cabinet varies wildly between brands/models/ranges, and that’s generally what determines the balance of mid/bass. Treble is pretty constant as they’re generally use dome tweeters which are minimally affected by the enclosure.
As you can see from my setup, the Mordaunt Shorts are MUCH bigger than the Celestions, and they have a balance according to that. Mine’s essentially a 4-way setup, but with two crossover points between the mids and trebles in both cabinets. Basically, the Celestions exceed the Mordaunts in the the 20-22khz range, and provide tighter response in the upper mids; the Mordaunts go lower down towards the bass (say, 100Hz) and flesh out the sound in the mids. When I need even lower range I toggle the MS5.30s on which takes it down to about 60Hz.
I dread to think what a frequency graph would look like of my setup, but it sounds fantastic to me personally which is what really matters.
EDIT: One piece of advice, btw, is if you EVER come across a cheap pair of Wharfedale Zaldek or Valdus speakers, buy them. Even if you’re not looking for a set. I used to have a set of Zaldek S1000s (http://www.avx.hu/forum/uploads/monthly_09_2010/post-20605-071198600%201284749257.jpg), and they were - for the Trance music that I played primarily at the time, at least - some of the best speakers I’ve ever owned. The Valdus series is supposed to be even better. Unfortunately, Wharfedale dropped out of the market about 10 years ago, and now all of their stuff is Chinese-made according to outsourced designs. They still make some lovely stuff, but nothing that sounds quite the same as their older ranges.
Just so you know the 9.1’s have curved sides and as they are low/mid price they are wood veneer over mdf rather than curved wood. They still look fine though.
To be honest mate, you’ll find MOST if not all hifi speakers are veneer over MDF. Older ones were veneer over chipboard which was even worse.
Even the Monitor Audio GX300 - the best “traditional” (non-electrostatic or horn) audiophile speakers produced to date, which retail for £3,000 a pair, are veneer over MDF. (http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/gold-gx/gx300/)
There are some exceptions to this such as JBL/Celestion/Q Acoustics/Canton which use plastic enclosures, but these are almost exclusively surround satellites. I think there have been a few boutique manufacturers who’ve used GRP shells over a MDF/plywood framework as well, but these are pretty rare.
The reason for using MDF/Plywood instead of real wood is that usually the density is actually HIGHER, and suffer from less warping/swelling/cracking than “real wood” enclosures. There’ve actually been some instances where people have had custom enclosures made (usually for guitar amps or really, REALLY large scale PA installations) out of concrete because it’s as close to COMPLETELY flat-sounding as can be achieved. The logic behind this is that ALL of the dynamics of the sound come from the drivers rather than the enclosure. Would work pretty well for an “infinite baffle”-type setup.
Here’s a question for you - could I leave the Amp switched on permanently, and just switch it off at the wall? That way, I could hide the amp behind my set-up somewher, and just switch it off at the wall when I’m not DJ’ing…
Could doing this potentially cause damage to the amp? I’m edging towards one of those shoebox sized Teac amps at the moment.
Sure you could; only problem then is you’d have limited volume control, but if you’re using the master on the mixer anyway, it’s not really a problem. Although tbh, those Teacs deserve to be on display haha 
Personally, mine’s been “on” 24/7 since I bought it a few months ago, and will continue to stay that way probably for several years to come.
You leave yours on? Aren’t you worried about how much energy they’re using?
Fuck no. I spend like £120 a month on power anyway with all the electronics gear I have in here (PC, TV, sound system, washing machine, cooker, water heater, etc), so I budget for insane usage. Plus Class D/T amps use MINIMAL power when they’re not actually being driven anyway.
you almost answer the question yourself in the title, if your going to be close in distance to the speakers i would not recommend regular hifi speakers since they are designed for the listener to be a few metres away.
however there is a couple of speakers that you can use nearfield that is passive and i would go with that way every day, for me it feels stupid to have something that heats up the speaker cones in the same box. also easier to change the amp if it breaks than perhaps repairing the monitors.
although you get one box less without amp i dont think its worth but genelec has built some active speakers thats proven to be good and maintain high quality.
worth to mention that in my world no digital amps which houses in most active speakers sounds enjoyable to my ear.
naim amp is the way to go
Thanks for the input, M.Beijer - but your suggestions are just too expensive for me!
I’m gonna be stood approx. 1.5 metres away from whatever I buy - so my original question still really stands:
Powered nearfield, or hi-fi with separate amp?
(I’m struggling to decide between Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers, with a 2x50w T-AMP MINI AMPLIFIER, and some Behringer MS40’s)
Personally I’d go for the HiFi route. You are looking at a similar set-up to me speaker wise, although yours are way newer. I am running a pair of 15 year old Wharfedale Diamond 7.1’s though an even older NAD amp I picked up on ebay for around £60. Job done.
Not convinced that your Behringer monitors will sound anywhere near as good.
Just throwing another brand into the mix, have a look at the Celestion DL series; apparently the DL6s are some of the best bookshelf speakers ever made.
mdcdesign - when looking at these awesome hi-fi speakers, should I worry about the amp that I’l be using? Ideally, I’ll get hold of one of those Teac amps like you have, but would sound quality suffer if I used an amp like this:
Not at all; a class T amp - even the cheapest ones out there - will give you FANTASTIC quality; the only thing they’re limited in is tone control (EQing), as most don’t have a preamp circuit built in. The reason for this, like makar said before, is to shorten the signal path and maximize quality
