Neophite needing advice

Go with a Stan Warren modified CD player for your front end. Stan can provide more musicality from budget digital. His mods will have you wondering why everyone plows so much money into typical "high end" gear. Start with Stan, and in time, you will be avoiding the dreadly "I've got some more money, time to upgrade game". It took me ten years of " upgrade fever" to find Stan .He is one of the most down to earth, genuine and talented circuit designers around. His mods and advice will give you more bang for the buck than anyone else I have ever known in the audiophile circles. You may call him directly at 541-344-3696 12-6 p.m. pacific coast time. (Please keep my E-mail address. As you progress in this hobby, my advice will probably end up saving you thousands of dollars! In ten years you can send me a small portion of this savings ...ha!)

Ehider...there isn't a reason not to believe you! Does Stan have a web-site? What kind of player he modifies? Thanks!

Remember, this guy said $1500. Most of these suggestions are over $2,000 for decent used and he hasn't even gotten cables and interconnets yet, or a decent power strip.

Castle Acoustics - Richmond speakers ($500.00). NAD 740 receiver ($500.00). Cambridge 300 CD player ($300.00). Mapleshade IC's and speaker cables ($153.00). Prices are retail, if you can do better upgrade the Cambridge to the 500 model which is $100.00 more. Also, if you can do without radio I would suggest the following. Renaud Twinn II speakers ($750.00). Cambridge 300 CD player ($300.00). Cambridge A300 integrated amp ($250.00). Mapleshade IC's and speaker cable ($153.00). Everything should be available by mail order.

If by clasical and jaz you mean smaller chamber type ensembles then you may want to try the Triangle Titus (500) with the Jolida 202A IA ($750). This'll squeez you for a CD player and tuner, but you'll get loads and loads of detail and warmth from trumpets, saxes, violins, snares, and cymbals. Bass will suffer, however, so if you primarily listen to big orchestral performance then I'd skip this. BTW, Saturday Audio seems to be selling the 750 (the 740 which I believe it replaced is recommended above) for $420. Also the two above mentioned pieces are currently being listed for $400-demo and $475-used respectively on Audiogon which may help you fit into better sources.