$1500 for a whole system, budding audiophile

Yes, I agree with Lou_setriodes. I can go out on CL any given week and find some great speakers at very low prices. Also, some of the older speakers still have some great value and sound quality. To me, the electronics are harder to find so I would save the bulk of my budget for a DAC/preamp and an amp.

Patrickrealtor76; I'm actually doing this right now for an office system. When I'm finished, I'll have about $1500 in it. Earlier this spring I couldn't pass on a super clean pair of Boston Acoustics A200s for $300 so those are my speakers. However, I just went out and checked my CL and found M&K, B&W, Polk Monitor 10b, Paradigm, Thiel, and PSB speakers; all reasonably priced and some appear to be in excellent condition. I have a Coda Model 10 amp and a Brick Wall surge protector. Now I'm just trying to decide the source. I tested an Oppo 103 direct to the amp which sounded decent at moderate volumes, but not as good at low volumes. And since it is an office where I'm supposed to work, I need something that sounds good at low volume levels. So now I'm thinking about a DAC/preamp. I'll probably give the Emotiva DC-1 and the Monarchy Audio 18B a listen next. I like the idea of the dual mono design of those DACs.