For an alternative point of view, I respectfully submit the following:
If I were just starting out (sort of the way you are), or redoing it all over again, knowing what I know now, and had my own audio room, the very first thing I would do is get the best speakers I could afford, i.e the best sounding to me while maxing out my budget. A set of speakers that you can "grow into" and ones that are almost too big for the room and look good while doing being so
With speakers meeting the above spec's, chances are you will be happy for a long time as its much more fun to "tweak" the sound of your speakers by adding, subtracting or changing the electronics that make up your system. If you have speakers you really love house sound of, then the music will, even with the worst electronics, sound pretty good to you. Even when you have an amp/pre/CDP that you don't really care for, the system will, generally, sound good because the majority of the sound arises out of the speakers signature sound you originally bought as being the sound this is just right for you..
THEN, I would deal with room acoustics and spend the next ? years finding and buying the "perfect" electronics for your tastes....
I had a pair of B&W Matrix 805s that stayed with me for years, in 1986 they cost $1600 which was way more then I should have spent on anything much less a silly pair of stereo speakers! Over the subsequent years electronics came and went but I always stuck with the speakers. Even when I had crappy supporting electronics (like the time I had a $200 Denon Receiver driving them because I had to sell my Brystons to pay the rent) or source, they still sounded pretty good to me. I did eventually "out grew" them, however this was because I grew out of the B&W signature sound and began to appreciate and love more romantic or musical speakers, but they were a staple for a long time
Think about it and enjoy the ride John
If I were just starting out (sort of the way you are), or redoing it all over again, knowing what I know now, and had my own audio room, the very first thing I would do is get the best speakers I could afford, i.e the best sounding to me while maxing out my budget. A set of speakers that you can "grow into" and ones that are almost too big for the room and look good while doing being so
With speakers meeting the above spec's, chances are you will be happy for a long time as its much more fun to "tweak" the sound of your speakers by adding, subtracting or changing the electronics that make up your system. If you have speakers you really love house sound of, then the music will, even with the worst electronics, sound pretty good to you. Even when you have an amp/pre/CDP that you don't really care for, the system will, generally, sound good because the majority of the sound arises out of the speakers signature sound you originally bought as being the sound this is just right for you..
THEN, I would deal with room acoustics and spend the next ? years finding and buying the "perfect" electronics for your tastes....
I had a pair of B&W Matrix 805s that stayed with me for years, in 1986 they cost $1600 which was way more then I should have spent on anything much less a silly pair of stereo speakers! Over the subsequent years electronics came and went but I always stuck with the speakers. Even when I had crappy supporting electronics (like the time I had a $200 Denon Receiver driving them because I had to sell my Brystons to pay the rent) or source, they still sounded pretty good to me. I did eventually "out grew" them, however this was because I grew out of the B&W signature sound and began to appreciate and love more romantic or musical speakers, but they were a staple for a long time
Think about it and enjoy the ride John