please help a rookie

Guys, I think he is looking for an integrated amp. The A85 is an integrated and a preamp would blow his budget.

To modify SDCampbell's Bryston recommendation, the Bryston B60 is also a nice integrated amp. Stereophile Class B.

FYI, The Creek phono add-on is $120 list price. Moving Magnet or Coil available (I don't think it does both, you have to choose).

What B&W speakers are you leaning towards??

Welcome aboard friend! I'm maybe closer to a novice myself as I've been completely immersed in this hobby for only a little over two years and counting.

To be clear, are you saying that you have about $1-1.5K to spend each for the pieces you're considering? Roughly, $3-4.5K total? For your first foray into this all-consuming hobby I'd say that's a pretty healthy budget. There's an awful lot you can get for that kind of money, especially if every component is purchased used.

Before buying anything you should go out and listen to as much as you can in order to form opinions of what you do and don't like, because it's all about personal tastes [personally, I don't find B&W to be sweet sounding]. I started with solid state integrateds matched with monitors, and eventually moved to a tube preamp with a solid state amp. As you listen and learn, your tastes will also evolve and your opinions will change too, much as mine have. If you become as crazy as the rest of us, you'll most likely end up buying and selling all kinds of stuff, more than you ever imagined you would.

You'll find varying opinions about whether you should build a system around your speakers, or start with the amp first. Frankly, I don't know which is the best route. And that's why I suggest you try and find local high-end dealers or friends that have equipment you can listen to. If something really moves you during an audition, then maybe that's where to begin your system. Also, read magazines and online reviews, but remember not to take what's written as the holy truth, because they are in themselves only opinions. See what people like and what they're combining them with, and if you have the chance to confirm what you've read through a listening session all the better.

As for recommending a specific product, a lot of that depends on how you like your music presented. You say you like jazz, opera and pop, but do you prefer it to thunder down on you, or flow gently over you? So, to start the ball rolling, I'll put forth some system ideas within your budget and see what fellow Audiogoners have to add.

If buying a new CD player a good place to start might be with the Rega Planet 2000, or if used a Theta Miles. Also, see what you can dig up on the new Jolida CD player.

Something that has me really intrigued is the Rogue Tempest tube integrated amp at about $1400 used. I've tried the Simaudio Moon I-5 and Electrocompaniet ECI-3 integrateds and felt they lacked the warmth I like, and with your hardwood floors they may exhibit a lean character.

With speakers it gets a bit trickier because you must decide whether you want a floorstander, a monitor on stands, or a monitor with a subwoofer. Both have their advantages, and then there's the whole issue of proper setup. For floorstanders look into the Vandersteen 2s, Meadowlark Kestrels, Soliloquy 5.3, and ProAc Response 1.5. For monitors check out the ProAc Response 1SC, Sonus Faber Concerto, Vienna Acoustic Haydn, and Totem Model 1. And for subs, a real favorite on Audiogon is the REL Storm and Strata, but don't forget the ACI Titans.

Also, Don't forget about cables!

Well, I hope I've helped more than confused you. I know it's tough to start with so much to learn and experience, but remember, this is fun! It's all about the journey! Enjoy!

If you decide on B&W, get an amp with some power (100-150 watts), and a decent amount of stability in to a reactive load. A used Classe CAP-100 or 150 will do well, but I am sure there are others with the juice to do the job nicely.

Don't forget about cables too!

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, we’ve 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. I’m also encouraging him to have a listen to some Vandersteens (which a shop here-about wouldn’t 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 doesn’t 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 ProAc’s 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 ProAc’s, 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 isn’t necessarily the way to go). For a relatively cheap CP player, I’m 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, I’d 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. Drag’em around with you, listen to what you can, trust them, and remember to have fun.