Audiophile newbie

Starting out, I would first establish a budget. Then decide what your primary
source will be. Let's say your primary source is digital.

I would suggest an integrated amp - NAD, Rotel are great choices. I've
owned both, and have a slight preference for Rotel, but only slight-

If you're using a laptop to Download music, you'll want to get an
inexpensive DAC such as an Audioquest Dragon Fly.

Speakers- we are blessed these days with many very fine speakers in the
$300 to $500 range

Speaker cables- my go to inexpensive speaker cable is QED 79 strand.
Hard to find in the US, but online you can get this easily from the UK.

Interconnect? - Kimber PBJ is a great low cost cable.

With intelligent shopping, you can put together a really nice system for
$1000 to $1200, and that's without buying used.

Auditioning- trust your ears and audition stuff only with music you are
familiar with.

A preamp is rather a dinosaur type of device. Back before CD, thhe main thing all preamps did was include a phono secction.
So when CD started and took over, the phono section started to disappear. Along with that went the tone controls and the modern 'Zen' do nothing preamp was born. So nowadays all a preamp does is select, and a volume control.
Lots of folks do without.

For a newbie the main concern when picking cables is NOT MUCH MONEY, and a brand everyone says to buy.
Like BlueJeans cables. and no more than 10% of you elelctronics cost. Then you will not go wrong.
After you learn all am=bout everything and are a guru like so many here, you can spend a fortune on some no name cable you learned about fourth hand which costs a thousand bucks a foot and be happy. But NOT until then.

Best bang for your buck is to buy used. Read up on the big names and wait until one pops up for less than an arm and a leg.

But stick with names which ar e still around...

"Receiver" is another term you may run across. A "receiver" is an integrated amplifier along with a tuner (which is an AM/FM radio) in one box, i.e., a tuner, preamp, and power amp in one box.

For someone starting out, I wholeheartedly second going "all Nad" for electronics with one possible exception. If you will be buying a CD player and have as much as $500 to spend on that one component, then the player to get is the Oppo 103. For someone starting out, I also wholeheartedly second going "all bluejeans" for ALL cables.

As for speakers, I second two fundamental rules of thumb already mentioned: (1) devote approximately 50% of total budget to speakers, and (2) don't buy any speaker that you cannot hear first.

Over time as someone has more money and decides to get more into this "hobby," one finds that further investment often finds its way into power conditioning, power cords, cabling, room treatments, and various and asundry other tweaks. And no doubt, there may be worthwhile investments to be made in these areas. Just be aware, however, that these are also the areas where the most money is likely to be wasted because of the degree of trial and error and guesswork that's involved.

Last but not least, when researching specific products, never rely purely on a review in any print and/or online publication that relies primarily on advertising dollars for its lifeblood. Most of them rarely say anything negative, and when they do, they sugar coat the negative finding to such a degree that it no longer comes across as the negative that it is. I'm not saying don't read the Absolute Sounds of the world but just make sure to also read forums like this one and several others.

I agree too NAD is good start!

I agree with the NAD suggestion as well. I had a c350 integrated for a few years as my main amp and I often wonder why I ever sold it.