@mrklass - you must be doppelgänger for me. Just ordered a new stressless chair after the 16 year old one is almost worn out, but my son can't wait to get it. I have a P8 which I think is the best value for the buck in any turntable - no changes (I actually thought about getting the arm from the P10 the RB 3000, but was told by a knowledgeable guy who deals with the ROTH OEM arms that the difference between the RB880 and RB 3000 is minimal if there is minimum vibration affecting the table - mine is on a wall shelf on top of a Townshend seismic platform - vibration is about as close to 0 as you're going to get).
I would get a van den Hul cartridge above mine (the MC One Special) and one of their phono stages as a start on the $100K question. Source is the most important, and the synergy between the cartridge and PS is most important (other than maybe amp and speakers). The duo won some award as the source of a cost no object shoot out as part of a $400K system that beat systems over $1M. I agree with MC and would get a top level integrated (I never explored a cost no object type set up, so don't know which one, but the less interconnects, the better). I would then get speakers that work best with the amp, and make sure they are non directional. A few thousand for vibration treatment and about $4-5K for a top power conditioner. $1-2K for speaker cables, $500 for one interconnect (Rega arms have internal wiring - I agree once again with MC on this), 3 $1000 power cords. Speakers would have to not look like they belong in a physics lab.
Wait a minute - have to disagree with MC - if the car needed to be included, 997.2 GTS. And just use what's left over for the stereo.
