Design an entire system for $800? ?

So let me get this straight. He is too cheap to buy good equipment. He is too busy to look for a good deal in used stuff. So he doesn't have the time or money to spend with his audio gear. Why does he want a stereo? Have him buy a Bose Wave Radio/CD with a remote. This way all his friends will think he has the ultimate(Bose), and he gets out cheap, and he won't be spending any time listening to it anyway. And with the remote, he won't even have to look at it, as that would probably take up too much of his time.

I think TWL offers a great solution. Even the guy who started the thread is passing the buck to us to help his cheap friend. I love it.

Another viable solution might be to purchase broken equipment that looks impressive to provide the illusion of a good system. You know, big beautiful speakers with burned out drivers, and electronics that light up but don't work properly could be bought for pennies on the dollar. Heck, he could save a lot on interconnects and speaker cables... Set up would be a snap because he wouldn't actually need to connect it together. The equipment could be placed about the room wherever it looks the best.

Then he could gaze upon the gear proudly while humming his favorite tunes to himself. If he is very clever, he could then imagine that the system sounds as good as it looks. :)

Acoustic Energy Aegis One speakers (or whatever the latest gen of this speaker is called), inexpensive wooden speaker stands (like Sanus, you can find them by doing a Yahoo shopping search), 12 gauge speaker cable from Hoem Depot or Radio Shack, or any electronics store. And, drive the speakers with a combo minisystem like the Yamaha mentioned above by DK, or my favorite, the TEAC Ref 100 or Costco equivalent (store the little speakers that come with the minisystem in case he wants to give the system away later). $600-800.

I have hooked up the little TEAC to an old pair of Monitor Audio MD300's in my father-in-law's house, and it's very enjoyable. Depth, width, nice imaging - just lacks a little detail, which isnt always bad.

Nothing unreasonable about your cheap friend's request.

First you start with a Dynaco pat4 preamp , a dynaco st70 power amp, a pair of large Advents for speakers , a Dual 1219 Turntable some lamp cord for speaker wire , Oh my God what a flashback