Looking for first system advice


I'm looking at entering the world of hifi components and am looking to spend 2-3k for a 2 channel system with speakers, amp, pre-amp. Looking for a place to begin, I spent some time in audio stores and without a certain starting point other than that listed above, started listening to speakers and really liked the sonus fabers that I listened to. I'm just looking for recs on "beginner" systems or components/types of components that would work/would not work (tube vs ss etc) with these speakers. I also listened to some martin logans that sounded pretty good. I'm not sold on either or these two brands so any help would be great.
stereohp1973ec98
I'm sure I'll get flamed for this advice but here it is anyway. The two speakers you mention both need seriously big amps to drive them. Big amps cost big money. Here's my equation for musical bliss on a budget.
Start with very simple, crossoverless speakers. They can be relatively cheap, sound unbelievable, and are a cinch to drive. Examples might include Omega's, Cain and Cain Abby's (ALERT...I'm a friend of Terry Cain's, but I still love his speakers), or maybe even a Reference 3A DeCapo (2 way but only a cap inbetween woof and tweet)
Now you need an integrated amp of only 10 to 30 watts...there are lots of cool things out there now (both ss and tube) for $500-$1000. All that's left is a CD player (or table) and one interconnect ( I highly reccomend the Chimera Labs stuff..fairly cheap and comes with a money back guarentee).
The problem is that you'll have a hell of a time finding any of this stuff to demo in a store, so you have to do your research and you'll have to take a chance on some stuff, but in the end, you'll be miles ahead. If I can point you to any of this stuff let me know...glad to help.
Steve
PS Let the flames begin.
Buy the best CD player that you can justify. It will establish what the rest of your system has to work with. Buy from stable, highly regarded manufacturers. For tube equipment, Jolida will be hard to beat. You can get an integrated amp, tube CD player, floor standing speakers, appropriate cabling, and an AC power screen for less than $3k. Also, consider a Sound Organisation stand for 250.00. Proper set up is essential to getting the best sound for the money. For solid state gear, consider Arcam electronics. For speakers, consider Focal / J.M. Lab. An example line up could be: (1) Jolida tube CD player @ 900.00, (1) Jolida integrated amplifier @ 750.00, (1) pair of floorstanding J.M. Lab speakers @ 850.00, (1) pair of Nordost speaker and interconnect cables @ 250.00 and (1) Audio Power Industries "Pack II" AC power screen @ 250.00. These are list prices. If you find these on Audiogon, you will pay alot less.
So are you throughly confused yet? There's a bagillion ways you can go here. And I seriously doubt you're goign to take anyone's blanket advise and run with it!
My suggestionis to find a pair of speakers you find you like the sound of, with the music and volume you like, and buy those, used or new(better deals on used, by far). Then, add amp, pre and source, as well as IC's, wire and Conditioner/tweaks, whatever. You might consider something that's driveable by integrated.
The guy above is pretty right regarding the Logan and SFaber speakers needing big amps mostly. You might try high end models that are good with tube integrateds, or ss integrateds, and start from there.
Here is another possibility:

--Magnepan 1.6,about $1200 used,including shipping
--16g heater cord for speaker wire from the hardware store
--Adcom 200 watt amp,either a 555 or a 5500, about $500,used.
--Bottlehead "Whole Deal" preamp,300 dollars and four or five hours of labor.
--Nad 521 rebook cd player as a transport,200,used
--Scott Nixon dac,about 250 dollars.
--enough acoustic fabric wallpaper to paper the wall behind the Maggies, 100 dollars plus install.
Let me amend my previous advice. Don't pay 250 for the Scott Nixon dac if you get a Bottlehead preamp. Instead,go to Nixon's web page and just get the circuit board and wire it into the preamp circuit ahead of the selector switch. Sorry about the oversight.