Newbie to the awesome audiophile world

If you  are going to get in this hobby seriously, you must get top line equipment, if you just want to listen sound just sound so stay where you are now. Because there is nothing between, the ladder has many runs , and addiction to reach the top will be exhausted. 🙂

Good advice from @mossyrocks and while I agree that collecting CDs is not practical per se, I am one who still thinks it is a good idea. And I'm still collecting. CDs are cheap. There is great data out there on what the good recordings are. There are tons of them available. And once you buy it you own it. And for music that you actually own I do not think there is a lower price option than used CDs. Not saying anyone _needs_ to go down that path, but I would not discount it either.

I do not purchase a CD for everything I listen to but I do purchase one for everything that would be on my long term "playlist". I do books the same way. Kindle or iPad is fine for light reading I'm not likely to come back to, but for the stuff I consider important.....I get the hard back.

+1 n80  Great advice 
Steve Guttenberg has a YouTube clip on audiophile systems for less than $2500. I think you pick your speakers first, then an integrated amp that will drive them, then a CD player and then a DAC (or a combined CD transport and DAC). If you are wanting to stream, then a Bluesound streamer/DAC would be a good choice. Schitt products are great bang for the buck if you want to buy new. But I applaud your willingness to buy used as you will get you more for your budget.  Consider ELAC speakers. I personally would look for a quality two way that gets down close to 40 Hz on the low end. Forget a turntable at this time. If I had to do it over again, not sure I would go down the analog path. 

A used Rogue Sphinx hybrid integrated amp would be huge bang for the buck and would drive most speakers. In terms of speakers, would look at B&W 600 series, ELAC or used Totem or Nola 

I think Musical Fidelity makes terrific integrateds representing a tremendous bang for your buck. You can pick up a used 3.5 really cheap. It is a tube/solid state hybrid that will produce a lot of power to drive most any speaker. Great for all types of music, although some folks don't like the "British" house sound. I really dig it.

@retsameht01Well you now know you’ll get as many opinions as people in this hobby. I’m sorry this turned into a long post on philosophy instead of gear. Tough to sum up 40 years in one post.

I couldn’t determine if, after this purchase, a. you are finished aside from a mild tweak or acoustic treatment I or b. this is stage One meaning you’re open to upgrades later.
Source: I did not see your preference for a source. In the case of vinyl and perhaps CDs: “if your gear fails to accurately retrieve the information from the medium, nothing downstream, regardless of quality, will correct that. Or the best electronics, connections, and speakers will do a great job revealing how poor the retrieval. Poorly recorded and mastered programming is also a factor but for another session.

Speakers: Consider starting w/smaller floor-standing or larger bookies. You may find that “full size SUV, while a lot fun to drive, is too much of a hassle to squeeze in your garage every day.” DO NOT consider any Home Theatre speakers. Polk’s RTi/RTi A series receive much criticism playing music from their owners for that reason. RT = Reference Theatre. RTi = Reference Theatre improvedRTi A* = Reference Theatre improved Advanced
Unless you like really bright sound these and other “theater” contoured speakers will wear you out.*First hand experience and many posts by others on the Polk forum. I tri-amped mine removing much of the cause

Used gear: I own power amps bought at 1/3-1/2 original $; subs* ~1/4-1/6 the original $ - NO REGRETS! Used higher-end cable and ICs are always a good idea but get your gear first. *DIY in my future😊 details for another day

Connections*: “go back for seconds on these.” Before you seriously shop for gear buy inexpensive connections. I started w/33 cents/ft 12 gauge! Leave these purchases out of your budget**. BlueJeans Is a great place to start. Lotta bang for the buck. My LCR are wired & connected w/their products. *interconnects and speaker cabling ** like having gas on hand to first fire your engine rebuild

From my experience I’ve become anal retentive about wire gauge. Your results will vary due to nominal impedance, the width, depth, and frequency points or range of impedance dips below 6 ohms. Fortunately for you and me, BJ sells 10 ga. For me 12 ga approaches compromise and 14 ga or smaller is ok to connect tweeters and/or small mids in a bi/tri-wire/amp set up. I have 8 ga in my system. I’m sure I’ll take a tomato or two for this paragraph!


So what ever you settle on, buy your gear, connect, and enjoy your “firsts” for a bit. After you can begin to make rational, calculated decisions concerning the “right connections” for system synergy*. The Millercarbons and other A’gon folks will be happy to guide you through choosing connections to that end*.

I’m not quite there* yet either but I think I’m close. You bet I’ll tap the MCs et al for the final polish for these old ears

I'm sure your head is already spinning faster than a 45 rpm Mo-Fi reissue, but I'll throw in a couple other ideas you might want to keep in mind.  These are observations based on years in the hobby.  I'd like to consider them common sense, but sense isn't always that common, and I'm sure many would debate these points.

First, simplicity should be your friend when you're just starting out.  Unless you have large quantities of multiple formats of music, pick a single source and work with that.  You can always add additional sources later as budget and interests allow.  For me, the ultimate source will always be vinyl, but can be a bit more finicky than, say, streaming (which I don't even do).  Simplicity also argues for an integrated amp over separates -- one less box and one less set of interconnects to buy.  Yes, you can't stagger your upgrades the way you could with separate pre- and power amps, but that's an issue that's down the road.

Second, buying used can save you a lot of money ... unless it doesn't.  By that, I mean that some components are tailor-made for purchasing used:  amplifiers, CD players, interconnects, speaker wire.  With tube gear, should you go that route, you do need to be aware of tube life and to be conservative you might want to plan for a replacement tube purchase in your budget.  Finally, and this is just me, but I wouldn't go with used for a phono cartridge if you go the vinyl route.  Far too easy to get something that has been damaged or is on its last legs.

Finally, all things being equal -- aren't.  While system balance is vitally important and everything matters, I have always felt that the "first among equals" in any audio system are the components that turn mechanical energy into electrical energy and vice versa.  So I will allocate a big more than an equal share of my budget for phono cartridge and for speakers.  I've found that approach has served me well, and you might too.

Happy listening.

That was supposed to read, "a bit more" ...