I'm in the same boat and I'm happy to see that on my own I've assembled from the components mentioned above. I started with new B&W 302's, purchased spontaneously. I realized I then had to get a back end that would do them justice. I spent hours and hours researching and settled on a used NAD C340 amp and used Cambridge D500 SE CD player. The CDP was damaged in shipment so I have yet to try it out.
If I were to do anything different, I would probably move up the B&W line and buy something used in the 600 series. The next step is probably to get a sub woofer with a high pass to take some of the load off these poor 5.5" drivers.
Speaker setup is very important to make the whole excercise worth it. Good solid stands are a must, you can mess with spikes and stuff from there.
Without testing myself, I am inclined to agree with those that say swanky speaker cable and interconects only make a psychological difference and are indistinguishable from Radio Shack Gold ICs and 20 gauge speaker wire from the role at Home Depot in blind listening tests.
If I were to do anything different, I would probably move up the B&W line and buy something used in the 600 series. The next step is probably to get a sub woofer with a high pass to take some of the load off these poor 5.5" drivers.
Speaker setup is very important to make the whole excercise worth it. Good solid stands are a must, you can mess with spikes and stuff from there.
Without testing myself, I am inclined to agree with those that say swanky speaker cable and interconects only make a psychological difference and are indistinguishable from Radio Shack Gold ICs and 20 gauge speaker wire from the role at Home Depot in blind listening tests.