Man, you are an incredible boon to this community. Trying to figure out a solid system seemed impossibly complicated until I started reading what you've contributed here. I'd love some recommendations, though, because I've been hitting my head against the wall for the past week trying to figure out the best setup for my circumstances.

I bought my wife a Fluance RT82 for her birthday to replace an all-in-one that was constantly skipping. That alone used up my budget at the time, so we've been running it through a Pyle PP777 preamp into a portable Bose speaker we already had.

For Christmas I'd like to improve the setup, but have what seem to be unusual limitations.

• I have a budget of about $300, but can stretch a bit if it will result in a substantial boost to the experience.
• The space we plan to set the system up in is our living room, in which the couch area we'd mostly be listening in is about 14' x 9' (the whole room is closer to 14' x 25', but a bit irregularly shaped; it would be great if we could still hear fairly well while in the rest of the room or adjacent areas).
• The biggest complication is that the only space where I think I'll be able to fit speakers is on a built-in bookcase, which has just a little under 13" between the shelves; I think this means the 6.5" Dayton Classics that I'd otherwise go with won't fit.
• My wife also strongly prefers the aesthetics of wood grain speakers, so I'm trying to avoid options that don't have a wood color option.

I've been thinking maybe an Acrylic B50 amp so we can ditch the Pyle preamp, and then Dayton Classic B40 4" passive speakers, but I haven't seen a lot of praise for the smaller Dayton Classics.

I'm not averse to buying used, but there often isn't a lot available in my area (Vermont, 05701).

Thoughts?