A good vintage tube receiver/integrate with a cheap cd player and cheap,
efficient speakers will readily outperform any solid state system within
your budget!

A good tube amplifier can sound excellent, but I couldn't disagree more
about the cheap speakers part. Not to mention that a vintage receiver is
unlikely to be working 100% properly, and the original poster is trying to
replace worn out equipment - why replace worn out equipment with more worn
out equipment? Good speakers are the key to good sound! Personally I think
that the amp should be bought to suit the speakers, and not the other way
around.