Neophite needing advice

NAD C340 or Creek 4330 Integrated Amp.; Cambridge Audio D500 CD Player; B&W DM602-S2 Speakers; Used Onkyo Integra Tuner

I would use most of the amount for a set of good speakers - fx. Sonus Faber Concerto which is a very musical speaker with Jazz and Classical music! In my opinion the Linn stuff ist mostly overpriced - and I would say that you can have better equipment for the price... I would recommend a Denon solution with a really good amp called PMA-1500R, the cd-player DCD-1450 and tuner TU-255. Here you have a system that's within your price range and will beat most of the competition...

NAD, Creek, Denon? You must be kidding?

Dekay, I use Linn Sekrits as my main speakers (with Majik) and they are delightful. I have not directly A/B'd them with Tukans but I think they are more transparent and have more bass. Linn's website lists an in-wall Sekrit. Mine are not in-wall. I have them on stands (they need dedicated stands from Linn), but they come ready for wall hanging. You could hang them from a sturdy picture hook, but Linn sells a special bracket for them. Very unorthodox looking speaker -- only 5" deep and has a polymer cabinet -- the sound would surprise the heck out of you. This site has a pair for $295. That is ridiculously low; it is a good couple leagues higher in capability than the quality, value-oriented bookshelfers that occupy this price point. I think the pair for sale are white (mine are black), but you can paint'em anything you want (yes, they are unorthodox).

All used...Audio Refinement Complete, Magnepan MMG's, Rega Planet or DVD player, Carver Tuner off Ebay, Homegrown Audio Interconnects, and Maplehade Golden Helix speaker cable. This setup will run in the $1500 range and I have listened to one with a Panasonic DVD A310 as the digital source and it was quite pleasing. I personally use a similar system with a Linn CD player and it is quite nice. The Classik setup that Eldragon suggests is also very nice, but might limit your development of your system. If you want something compact and do not intend to upgrade, then the Linn Classik is for you. You could match it up to any number of speakers. The Tukan and Sekrit are the logical Linn Choices. P.S...you could swap out the Audio Refinement Complete for a Linn Majik..I personally like the Complete...and also check out the latest Stereophile review of the Linn Classik.