Novice looking for advice

You need to establish price range, space limitations, type of music you prefer, how loud do you want it to play. Should it be a floorstander or stand mount? How important is appearance. With this type of info, members could give you specific advice. You should also make the decision before speaker purchase as to whether it will be a tube or ss amp. Tube amps prefer an 8ohm load and one that is not reactive. There are exceptions to every rule.

I never recommend vintage separates to a novice. Too many issues can occur. Start with something newer or simpler. Rouges could be great or on the simpler side Jolida.

I would start with the speakers, but spend some time to get what you really want. The room and placement are going to be the most important factors in choosing a speaker. Then you get the appropriate power amp to drive your speaker, tube or ss. Pour over these threads and then listen, listen, listen! Hopefully you are in a place that allows you to audition several brands and styles to find what YOU like, don't worry about the price (many $1k speakers can sound better than $3k speakers) or others opinions, Get would sounds good to you , trust what you hear not what you read though. Good luck and welcome.

High R2W

As you desribe yourself as a novice, if you live in a in/near a city that has a high end audio retailer(s), go visit one or more stores and see if you can hook up with an honest salesperson. I am not talking about Best Buy here.

If you can, they will recommend several products in your price range and you can audition them in the store. They might let you audition them at home. A really good retailer might set the stuff up in your home for audition.

You can find many product recommendations on these forums,but, in my experience, its no substitute for auditioning - the speakers at least.

lotsa great stuff for sale here used... demo everything you can but i rarely buy new unless firesale priced. if you have the $ it is your call tho. why macintosh is one question... and as noted, do you really think seperates is wise as a beginner? jmo. keep it simple and find a guy who can get you farther down the learning curv before you start spending big money. a 'guru' of sorts will save huge amnt of time and money and headache.