Ugh, my friend, that's a monster of a question -- as there are easily more potentially great answers than there are even people to give them. However, as a friend of mine recently asked essentially the same question, I can at least try to explain the path that I have been attempting to lead him down in hope of helping him answer it for himself.
In my opinion, the best place to start is by identifying a pair of speakers that make you happy and then backing into electronics that compliment the speakers from there. (Others will tell you to start elsewhere, but this is my turn on the soapbox). I live in New York city, so I started by dragging him around to listen to as many speakers as we could. So far, weve hit the Meadowlark Kestrels, the Audio Physic Spark III, Thiel 1.6, ProAc 1sc, a couple of Sonus Fabers, and a couple of Vienna Acoustics. Im also encouraging him to have a listen to some Vandersteens (which a shop here-about wouldnt even deign to plug in for us), Soliloquy, Aerial, and B&W (and I certainly would have insisted that he listen to some Maggies, but he simply doesnt have the room). At the more-or-less $1.5k pricemark (used) there are some exceptional bookshelf speakers as well as many wonderful smaller floorstanders to choose from. There are lots more, for sure, but we focused on the (only slightly) less-esoteric ones that could be easily found in local shops. So far, he seems to be leaning towards he ProAcs or the Meadowlarks which, without digressing into the jargon of audiophilia for the why and wherefore, were simply the ones that brought on the biggest smile from the guy in the listening chair.
From whatever speaker you like, the potential permutations as to electronics are huge. If, for example, the friend decided to go with the ProAcs, he could certainly get by with a nice integrated from the likes of Classe, Creek, Sim Audio, Music Fidelity, Audio Refinement, Bryston or countless others (if we were to limit ourselves to solid state as opposed to tubes, which isnt necessarily the way to go). For a relatively cheap CP player, Im partial to the various revamped, tubed revisions of Marantz players (AH!Tjoeb 2000 or Heart CD6000) or possibly a Rega or the like. Buying used, he could put something like this together for less than $3k and have a genuinely respectable and musical system. If you want to talk separates, Id encourage him to look into a tubed preamp and a solid state amp (and I might sell him my old VTL 2.5 pre ). That said, the ProAcs would certainly benefit from even finer upstream equipment if he were inclined (we heard them on a $6k Rowland integrated). I could certainly go on and on, but nothing I could say matters 10% as much as your own ears. Dragem around with you, listen to what you can, trust them, and remember to have fun.
In my opinion, the best place to start is by identifying a pair of speakers that make you happy and then backing into electronics that compliment the speakers from there. (Others will tell you to start elsewhere, but this is my turn on the soapbox). I live in New York city, so I started by dragging him around to listen to as many speakers as we could. So far, weve hit the Meadowlark Kestrels, the Audio Physic Spark III, Thiel 1.6, ProAc 1sc, a couple of Sonus Fabers, and a couple of Vienna Acoustics. Im also encouraging him to have a listen to some Vandersteens (which a shop here-about wouldnt even deign to plug in for us), Soliloquy, Aerial, and B&W (and I certainly would have insisted that he listen to some Maggies, but he simply doesnt have the room). At the more-or-less $1.5k pricemark (used) there are some exceptional bookshelf speakers as well as many wonderful smaller floorstanders to choose from. There are lots more, for sure, but we focused on the (only slightly) less-esoteric ones that could be easily found in local shops. So far, he seems to be leaning towards he ProAcs or the Meadowlarks which, without digressing into the jargon of audiophilia for the why and wherefore, were simply the ones that brought on the biggest smile from the guy in the listening chair.
From whatever speaker you like, the potential permutations as to electronics are huge. If, for example, the friend decided to go with the ProAcs, he could certainly get by with a nice integrated from the likes of Classe, Creek, Sim Audio, Music Fidelity, Audio Refinement, Bryston or countless others (if we were to limit ourselves to solid state as opposed to tubes, which isnt necessarily the way to go). For a relatively cheap CP player, Im partial to the various revamped, tubed revisions of Marantz players (AH!Tjoeb 2000 or Heart CD6000) or possibly a Rega or the like. Buying used, he could put something like this together for less than $3k and have a genuinely respectable and musical system. If you want to talk separates, Id encourage him to look into a tubed preamp and a solid state amp (and I might sell him my old VTL 2.5 pre ). That said, the ProAcs would certainly benefit from even finer upstream equipment if he were inclined (we heard them on a $6k Rowland integrated). I could certainly go on and on, but nothing I could say matters 10% as much as your own ears. Dragem around with you, listen to what you can, trust them, and remember to have fun.