Budget system recommendations

Maxcast: This will not get you good sound right away, but if you have "any" kind of CD player (even a Walkman) that you can use in the meantime, you might want to hold out for one of the upcoming low cost CD/SACD/DVD players that may be on the market in the next 3-6 months. Even if you do not get into multi channel sound you should still be able to take advantage of the DVD feature (if you have a compatible TV), plus have the option of playing SACD's. Will the new models sound any good? I don't know, but you will kick yourself if they do sound good and end up costing the same as the CD players that you are looking at now. You can still build the rest of the system in the meantime and if the new combo players suck, then pick up one of the suggestions above or something else that you like. I am just suggesting this because you seem to be on such a tight budget. I also am holding off on upgrading my player/transport to see what becomes available, as I am interested in adding SACD to my system (DVD does not interest me). I figure that once the low cost players hit the market the software will become readily available (unless the companies are intending on commiting marketing suicide, which I doubt that they are).

AMP dynaco st70 on ebay for 250.00-400.00.
PREAMP foreplay preamp from bottlehead.com if you can build kit.
SPEAKERS mission, bic new. klipsch used
CD PLAYER rotel 855 used, ebay

I like Sugarbie's B&W 602 suggestion. I used to own the 603s and thought they were great. If you were to buy B&W 300 or 600 series i would advise that you spend more on the integrated amp and just get a cheap cdp. They like a decent amount of clean power, but are a bit numb to the quality of the cdp. I would recommend used Classe CAP-80 ($600-700), a pair of B&Ws, old an old Rotel cdp with radio shack interconnect and thick generic speaker cable. Although NAD is good for the money (I still own mine with a pair of B&W 302s:), for a little more the Classe is far superior. In any case i would skip expensive cables for now. Experimenting with my B&W/NAD system, I have swapped my cardas speaker cable with my generic cable and my kimber interconnect with the pair that came with my cdp and found no difference in the sound. I did however notice a huge difference between thin generic cable and thick cable with the 603s. Good luck

TNT Audio

www.tnt-audio.com

Here's the system I just put together for my girlfriend: Marantz CD63se- used $150, Bryston B2 power amp 60W- used $250 ( 20 yrs old but hey it's a Bryston ) PSB "image" series 2B speakers- new but slight scratch on the cherry veneer $250, used DH Labs T-14 speaker cables & BL2 interconnects- $100, a TOTAL of $750, The CD player has a remote with volume, so no immediate need for a pre. Great sound, and wow, I can see/hear that I'm quite a ways up the ol' diminishing returns curve with MY pricey gear...