If I want a bookshelf system this good, what should I buy?

Thank you all. Merry Christmas!

I will comment here when I am done hunting for my first proper setup.

At your budget you’ll want to go with an integrated amp. Your speakers are not a very easy load for an amp at 86dB sensitivity, and they drop to 4 Ohms in both the bass and lower mids. The Aegir won’t be able to drive the 100s properly, and frankly I question if even the Ragnarok would be sufficient unless you listen at relatively low levels.

There was a Hegel H300 for sale on US Audio Mart last August for $2000 that is still listed as available, and if so that could be a great amp for your speakers. It also has a decent DAC that may keep you happy at least for a while, but clearly the Orchid would be an improvement.

There’s also a nice Rogue Pharaoh on USAM for $2200 that may also be a very nice match (no DAC though), and although it’s a Class D amp it has two small tubes in the preamp section so you can fine tune the sound to your liking by trying different tubes — very nice! With the Orchid this would put you a little over your budget, and you’d still need a streamer. As an alternative I’d recommend you get a used Bluesound Node 2i to stream as it will be about half the price (around $450) of the MiniDSP SHD Studio, and it has a DAC that’s plenty good enough that it should hold you over until you feel the itch and/or have the funds to upgrade. So for electronics you’re around $2700 between the Pharaoh and used Node 2i. Add Raven Audio Soniquil RCA interconnects ($119) and speaker cables ($179 for 3 meters) and you’ve got a great system at about $3000 all in. Raven has a 45-day trial period BTW.

As as an aside, I had the Rogue Medusa amp in my system on demo upon which the Pharaoh’s amp section is based, and I can tell you it is an outstanding amp that is very neutral and threw an outstanding 3D soundstage that should play right into the strengths of your 100s. Anyway, hope this helps, and best of luck in your search.

For lower budget bookshelf speakers I've been pretty impressed with Sonos products.

Thank you so much @soix 

That is a lot of good information for me.

Can't thank enough for meaningful advises from people like you and others who has experience and altruism to help new audiophiles!

Happy new year holidays!

K

There is a mint, low hour Simaudio Moon 340i for sale on USAM. This is a really well made, great sounding integrated (100W doubles to 200W into 4ohms). I would pair this with the Bluesound Node 2i that @soix suggested.