Audiophile newbie

Listen up. I will actually answer your question. I've owned dozens of high end components and listened to hundreds.

Buy an all NAD system. NAD makes electronics.

For speakers I would buy Monitor Audio RX6 or Silver6.

This will give you an entry level system that will provide amazing sound quality likely far exceeding anything you previously heard from a home stereo. Trust me, this will give you a superb system at a high end entry level price.

Going "all NAD" for electronics is a pretty safe and easy way to go. Many people have done it that way for many years and for good reason. Tried and true, fewer decisions to make. Simple is often better.

Starting out, I would first establish a budget. Then decide what your primary
source will be. Let's say your primary source is digital.

I would suggest an integrated amp - NAD, Rotel are great choices. I've
owned both, and have a slight preference for Rotel, but only slight-

If you're using a laptop to Download music, you'll want to get an
inexpensive DAC such as an Audioquest Dragon Fly.

Speakers- we are blessed these days with many very fine speakers in the
$300 to $500 range

Speaker cables- my go to inexpensive speaker cable is QED 79 strand.
Hard to find in the US, but online you can get this easily from the UK.

Interconnect? - Kimber PBJ is a great low cost cable.

With intelligent shopping, you can put together a really nice system for
$1000 to $1200, and that's without buying used.

Auditioning- trust your ears and audition stuff only with music you are
familiar with.

"Receiver" is another term you may run across. A "receiver" is an integrated amplifier along with a tuner (which is an AM/FM radio) in one box, i.e., a tuner, preamp, and power amp in one box.

For someone starting out, I wholeheartedly second going "all Nad" for electronics with one possible exception. If you will be buying a CD player and have as much as $500 to spend on that one component, then the player to get is the Oppo 103. For someone starting out, I also wholeheartedly second going "all bluejeans" for ALL cables.

As for speakers, I second two fundamental rules of thumb already mentioned: (1) devote approximately 50% of total budget to speakers, and (2) don't buy any speaker that you cannot hear first.

Over time as someone has more money and decides to get more into this "hobby," one finds that further investment often finds its way into power conditioning, power cords, cabling, room treatments, and various and asundry other tweaks. And no doubt, there may be worthwhile investments to be made in these areas. Just be aware, however, that these are also the areas where the most money is likely to be wasted because of the degree of trial and error and guesswork that's involved.

Last but not least, when researching specific products, never rely purely on a review in any print and/or online publication that relies primarily on advertising dollars for its lifeblood. Most of them rarely say anything negative, and when they do, they sugar coat the negative finding to such a degree that it no longer comes across as the negative that it is. I'm not saying don't read the Absolute Sounds of the world but just make sure to also read forums like this one and several others.