looking to build best vintage solid state system

I'm not sure 7 years old qualifies as vintage. IMHO you need to go back to the 80's for that. I've picked up some great deals on early 90's amplifiers . B&K M200 Sonota monoblocks are hard to beat for the $'s. I have Bedini 100.100 (late 80's, but updated by Bedini 3 years ago) and it's fantastic. Early 90's Conrad Johnson amps are also great. There are some great preamps available the too - as long as you don't want remote control. I would stick to new for digital sources though - or at least 2000+.

How about Marantz Ma-5 monoblock? Sweet, punchy & musical!

Great feedback all! I havent bought anything yet and am still using my old Denon dra 345r as a received with Infinity sm-32. I am somewhat stagnant since I am not sure whether to buy the amp first, or the speakers. The porblem is that I heard the sonus faber cremona with primare components and for the first time understood the meaning "speakers disappeared" Anyway, prior to that i was leaning toward the B&W speakers with sunfire components. The bottom line is that all of this is way out of my budget and that somewhat describes my frusteration. Anyway, keep the feedback coming....thanks all!!!

You should find the speakers you like first. If at all possible go listen to them. Let us know your budget. As another poster stated an old Aragon or Rotel amp will work much better than your Denon. Concentrate on good speakers.