Girlfriends and wifes, how do YOU cope?

As she passes you in the hallway while you are carrying that new-big-package with more "toys" for the listening room, just sweetly wisper: "Honey, it's all deductible."

Hi,
For a CD only bedroom system near $1K I'd start with the original top-loading Rega Planet CD player--Easy to load in the dark and much beloved by Stereophile. About $425, used.
It's very "live" sounding, plus it's musical and "analog-like", and is a great transport should you ever wish to upgrade.
Next, you can get a good deal on a used AMC 3030a tube hybrid class A integrated amp for about $300. It was also well-ranked by Stereophile and sounds superb. It has 4 ohm and 8 ohm speaker taps, but prefers higher impedance speakers.
Speakers are so much a matter of taste, as well as room and location-dependent I hardly know where to start.
What are your musical tastes? What is important to you, sonically? What isn't? Where will the speakers be?
I can say that I wouldn't spend more than around $400, tops on them, even better: half that.
If you spend about $100 on used interconnects by Alpha Core Goertz, Harmonic Tech, or Nordost and $100 on speaker cable (Monster's Powerline 2's still a bargain) total system cost comes out at about $1200.
That's nearly a "Class C" Stereophile system end-to-end.

I don't ask what's in the Saks and Neiman's bags
I always tell her how great she looks. She doesn't ask me how much the gear costs.

Well the usual question women and HIFI...
AS a student with a very limited budget, there are a lot of choices to be made, and if i involved my girlfriend in them, I would never get new stuff :O( so i simply dont.. then when it arrives i take the bullet, and wait it out.. usually it takes a week.. However when i recievd my one month old speakers (Vienna Acoustics strauss) i thought she would leave me for sure..

As long as I buy the new fridge, stove, re-do the kitchen and bathroom floors, wallpaper the laundry room, re-wire the electrical to put lights where she wants, dig holes in the yard to plant whatever flowers and shrubs she fancies this week, pay the mortgage, the bills, mow the lawn, vacuum the carpets, walk the dog (3 times a day minimum), brush the dog every day, fix the cars, cook most of the time, wash dishes, never forget her birthday and our anniversary, then... and only then, I can go ahead and buy stereo gear without a problem. She's really great though...