My first REAL system...need some advice

Hi voodoochild i think the most crucial piece that you will buy is your speaker. I would spend at leat 50% of your budget on that. You have been looking at b&w speakers they work well may be try paradigm or foacl.

Just my suggestion - for what it is worth.

If you already have some speakers, spend about $1000-1500 on a good used tube amp on audiogon. The amp is a major part of the system. Buy a decent yet inexpensive CD player like you are already looking at and then save up for whatever speakers you are looking at. If you don't have a preamp, look for a CD player with variable output (especially if it has volume control on the remote control) or buy a low cost passive preamp if you can't find a CD player with variable output. It is better to buy a good amp that you will be satisfied with than to use a lesser quality integrated. If you really want a solid state integrated (I prefer tubes) then look at something like a used YBA Integre or perhaps a Krell integrated. Lots of great choices on audiogon and if you search the forums you can probably find lots of good information on recommendations for integrateds if you don't like my idea of buying a tube amp. If you have the option to listen to equipment before you buy it, listen first.

FYI - you won't typically get deep bass from bookshelf speakers like you will from tower speakers. If you want bookshelf speakers, you may need to add a subwoofer (another subject altogether) to get the bass you are looking for.

Brad