speakers and amp advice for a friend pls?


Hi guys, a friend really into music asked me for a favor but i am too busy with graduate school to spend time looking and reading reviews as I used to do before.
He said he have $1200 for speakers and amp, also he would prefer tower speakers, I adviced him that we will ask for help here before any move as I always do with my own upgrades etc.
He likes Rock music and mostly the golden 70s and 80s music,
He just arrived from Cuba 8 months ago, certainly no much exposure to audio gear.
I assume that with that money he can go far in the used market to even buy a dac and cables, plus...
All inputs highly appreciated!
Thank you all in advance.
128x128mountainsong
Building a system for someone from scratch without knowing their taste or room is almost impossible.
It's like saying my friend has $12 to spend on lunch, what should he eat?
Sure, you'll get lots of recos, but your friend may or may not like what he gets to eat.
I'd be leaning towards NAD and B&W speakers. I know some people enjoy Rotel with B&W but you need to be familiar with Rotel to know what to use. The newer Rotel gear sounds awful to my ears. I had a NAD C317 and B&W DM602's and that combo was a rock and roll match made in heaven. You can't go wrong with either of these companies.