So I went ahead an took a £100 punt on a Topping MX3 amp with USB input so as to use with the iMac.
Basically as I'd forgotten I had a pair of 24 year old? JBL Control 1 desktop speakers.
Wow! They sounded very very good good indeed, great separation over all frequencies + good close too sat at the computer and equally impressive at filling the whole room = a
huge improvement over the previous JBL Creature 2.1 powered system.
But after several minutes of going through all sorts of different music, the Control 1 speakers started distorting
Removed the cabinet grills to find the flexible outer part of the bass speakers to have disintegrated into small powdery bits.
Then discovered I had a pair of smaller JBL Control Micro speakers which I'd forgot about. Sadly only one of those produced any sound and it was very flat and dull and disappointing in comparison the the Control 1s, for their brief gorgeous soundingness.
So then I dug out an even more ancient pair of Wharfedale
Diamond 2. Whose flexible outer part of the bass speakers were intact and seemingly constructed from a plastic material?
Trouble is they sound s**t + basically muddy in comparison to the JBL Control 1 speakers, which sadly lasted so briefly after storage for many years.
One assumes? that Wharfedale Diamond 9s will be a completely different product to the ancient Diamond 2s? Maybe I should try and find some JBL Control 1s - as I know they sounded great with the Topping MX3 amp. Who's to say JBL Control 2 speakers would provide the clarity and separation of their predecessor?