Solve this fun puzzle

CORRECTION: The B&W speakers are DM302 (not 301). You could also opt for the Cambridge Audio CD-4SE the D500 replaced.

I agree with joysjane that you will get many good recommendations from knowledgeable people on this site. Sugarbrie has made a good call. You also may consider the Sherwood Newcastle cd-980 for a cdp. It has dual 20 bit Burr-Brown dacs and can be had on the used market for $175-$225. There is none listed on Agon or Ebay right now but one may come up soon. Just another alternative. Good luck

Very interesting posts and well thought out. I've always believed in starting with the source first, get the source right and follow it down through the chain to the speakers. The old garbage-in/garbage out school of thought. Although I haven't heard all of the CD players listed here, the Marantz units are well regarded and reasonably priced and would likely be a logical candidate. I have used Cambridge CDP's in the past, but had a lemon so I won't comment one way or another on the Cambridge; many others have had great success with Cambridge Audio. Plenty of CDP's to consider...As for amplification, I'm a NAD fan in that price range(a NAD3020 integrated @ $200 should be considered) although you may consider a used Creek or Rotel as well. Is a tuner section important to you? If so you need a receiver rather than a integrated amp, perhaps a used NAD7250 (I picked up one for $175 on eBay)? I agree with Tom, I've yet to find a better budget speaker than the B&W DM302. To summarize, $250 per component, and leaves you a few bucks for stands and wire. Welcome to quality audio! Jeff

Used Dahlquist DQ10s - about $300, Used Acoustat TNT200 power amp on Audioweb for $200, Used Chase Technologies remote control preamp for about $75 used. $575 so far. If you pick up a cheap enough CD player, you may have enough for a modest powered sub. And we're talking real Hi-Fi here. One of me audiophile daughters has a similar system and it's dynamite. Don

I'm in the same boat and I'm happy to see that on my own I've assembled from the components mentioned above. I started with new B&W 302's, purchased spontaneously. I realized I then had to get a back end that would do them justice. I spent hours and hours researching and settled on a used NAD C340 amp and used Cambridge D500 SE CD player. The CDP was damaged in shipment so I have yet to try it out.
If I were to do anything different, I would probably move up the B&W line and buy something used in the 600 series. The next step is probably to get a sub woofer with a high pass to take some of the load off these poor 5.5" drivers.
Speaker setup is very important to make the whole excercise worth it. Good solid stands are a must, you can mess with spikes and stuff from there.
Without testing myself, I am inclined to agree with those that say swanky speaker cable and interconects only make a psychological difference and are indistinguishable from Radio Shack Gold ICs and 20 gauge speaker wire from the role at Home Depot in blind listening tests.