Newbie to the awesome audiophile world

Start with speakers. If I could do it again.... efficient easy to drive always works best because you have flexibility to get an amp that does not break the bank. If you fall in love with a sound of speaker then get it, I did this and still have a couple pairs of my favorite. I would put my money into a decent integrated or amp and pre-amp that lights up the speakers that I like the best. Enjoy! You have lots of time to get the turntable or digital player or whatever source you will use to play music with so much cheaper. Buy used from audiogon or an ebay seller that has a good rating. If you get real lucky you might find some equipment at a garage sale (do not count on it) those days are gone. My two cents. 

OP, as a rank noob I'll go out on a limb here and re-emphasize not to spend 25% of your budget on speaker cables unless you already have or already think you have refined listening sensibilities.


MC will predictably blast me for this....and that's okay. That's what we're expecting and we're expecting him to tell us he gets paid for his consulting and if we don't then our opinion is to be discarded. And he well may be correct.

But here is my reasoning for this: I recently acquired a Bryston amp, a Classe' pre amp and pair of Aerial Acoustics 6T towers connected to the amp with a pair of Transparent G5 Super cables. This pair of 10' cables sell new for $2000 and are not considered particularly high end. This whole system is worth about $20,000 new...at least. Don't worry, I'm not bragging, I did not pay for them and I don't get to keep it all.


As you might expect it all sounds quite good. In fact, amazing to my ears. Well as I was shuffling all this gear around I did not want to fool with those gigantic, stiff, cantankerous speaker cables and just used a pair of Transparent's lowest end basic 14 gauge cable.

I could hear a difference. But guess what? Not much.


Then later, for various reasons I used some high quality off the shelf no-name 12 gauge speaker wire.

Guess what? I could not hear any appreciable difference between and the basic 14 gauge Transparent cables.


The moral of this story IS NOT that cables don't make a difference. The moral of the story is that for most people beginning in audio without a trained ear or particularly critical SQ needs, cables are not likely to make a $500 difference in your listening experience with a $1500 system.

You wouldn't be wrong to take MC's advice. He's an expert. But you wouldn't be wrong to take mine (and other member's) advice either since I've done the two bit test for average ears.

And you can always upgrade cables later, right?


Disclosure: I'm keeping the Aerial Acoustics 6Ts and will be buying a modest amp for them and I will NOT be using the no-name speaker wire. But I won't be spending $500 on speaker cables either.

Tip: Check out the "Music" forums here at Audiogon. You'll get great advice on good recordings and source material without all the arguing and posturing. Really pretty cordial over there.
George

Thanks for so many great advices everyone. This is turning out to be one of the best decision joining this forum. Just curious if anyone in here from Atlanta area and I would love to visit and see  what you have setup. I'm in the process of doing research on speakers and then amps. I've already have a Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus as my source and I have it paired with a Chromcast Audio which I can stream to it from the phone. 
So i'm currently checking out ebay for some good used flagship floorstanding speakers. This stereo system is for my living area. It's fairly large with a 2 story ceiling and very open space. So I'm looking for some large floorstanding speakers that can fill that much space and also does not look tiny compare to the room.

@retsameht01....You've already received enough advice for a lifetime. ;)

Take you time, and some music (cds') with you.
Leave your wallet in the car to minimize rash moves.
Spend more time listening to the equipment vs. the salesperson.
Nothing is Perfect from the start, so start simple; one can always use 'headroom' to learn what one likes and How.

Enjoy the journey....mind the rocks 'n roots on the trail. 
And have fun.  It's supposed to be Fun.
Don't fear mistakes.  We've all made some.

Good variable factors, 
J

Have you looked a Schiit audio many people have great things to say about their equipment and it's American made. Not sure if you are looking new or used, your money will buy lots more on the gently used market.