1000 budget for speakers and integrated - HELP

I cannot argue with anyone, the AR Complete is a great integrated. It is more musical and dynamic than the Creek 4330. But this is not to say that the 4330 is a dog. It is good. Kestrels are great, but at your budget go with the Vireos. Call Pat McGinty at Meadowlark and see what he has in B stock. These are speakers with some cosmetic problems. The Complete and Vireos would be a killer system.

A Linn Majik and Keilidhs would be possible for a little more than 1000 - between 1250 - 1500 if you are patient and wait for the right deals to come along. For your musical tastes I think you will be extremely satisfied. The Keilidhs are often overlooked but at their current used prices they are an incredible bargain. Try to get the latest ceramic dome tweeter with the three bars - it's much smoother than the previous version. Give them a listen before you heed the prejudices out there - they fail to impress some tastes but I have compared the sound to many much more expensive speakers and amps and still feel that they excel where others fall apart. I've compared them to JM labs, B&W (the most overrated speaker I can think of - apart from Bose, IMO), monitor audio, pro-ac tablette series (the tablette 2000 is awful sounding), and others. I always appreciate my Keilidhs after hearing many of these. For reference, some speakers that I do love are Castle, Pro-ac (non-Tablette) , Audio Physic, Joseph audio, and Aerial Acoustics. - Yet at a much lower price the Keilidhs give all of these stiff competition and can do justice to the best electronics you throw at them. And the Majik is a truly sweet little amp - a pleasure to use with warm controlled, detailed, but never grainy sound - incredibly musical.

Buy a David Berning MicroZOTL and build a set of single driver speakers based on Fostex drivers. That is what I did for my $1k amp and speaker combo. I will lay odds its will make the SS amps mentioned seem like, well, SS amps. Why settle for SS when you can have a Class A Triode OTL tube amp? The low power/ single driver/single source system is what many tube freaks go GaGa over. And you could do it within your budget.($750 amp/$250 spkrs)With NEW gear. This type of system would suit your jazz tastes to a T. I know because it suits my jazz tastes, too. If you have been reading any of the amp threads lately, you know the Bernings are some of the best anywhere, and a bargain. You should leap at this chance to get World Class Sound instead of Entry Level Commercial Sound. For a single driver system, all you have to make is a box for each driver. If you can change a lightbulb, you can glue a box together. If you need help, email me. There is no comparison in sound between these choices.Do it!

If you don't go with the Berning, then go with the Naim Nait like Gumby said. That is a great amp.

The AR Complete is the way to go on the amp side. As stated, it may hurt the budget for speakers. You are on target with the Kestrels, but to make the budget work and still keep that Meadowlark magic, try the Vireos. The Vireo is perfect for the music you mentioned and you may just make it at 1000.