hi hedgehog,
i'd recommend a tubed preamp. *especially* if cd is gonna be your main source. i'm partial to melos, & the sha-gold/maestro is excellent, usually awailable for ~$1k used. if getting a melos is to scary for ya, then the cary slp-98 can be found for a bit more than the melos.
re: amps, for solid-state, i'm partial to electrocompaniet, not yust cuz i have an excellent aw100 currently f/s... ;~) it's f/s cuz it's an older, not-bridgeable wersion, & i want the option of running a pair of electro amps in bridged-mono set-up.
good luck, doug