There are so many possibilities with this budget, especially if you consider buying used gear.
I agree with Michael that going after some good used equipment makes a lot of sense in this range. I'm listening to a system right now that sounds great and was put together for less than $1800
Speakers - Loth Amaze (unfortunately no longer made) new $895. Got them on close out for $400. These are full range 6" speakers in a modest size box which have all the full range driver virtues. Probably a similar unit that's still on the market would be something like the Omega Super 3 at $695 or the Horn Shoppe Model 1 at $800.
Amplifiers - Flying Mole DAD M100pro - List $700, bought used for $450. Great sounding compact digital amplifiers.
Preamplifer - homebuilt passive preamp using Alps potentiometer. cost $35. With the squeezebox listed below you can skip this entirely and drive the amplifiers directly.
Source - Squeezebox 3. cost $300. I modified this myself with a better linear supply and a lot of internal mods. To get the same quality you'd probably need to pay Wayne at Boulder cables $100 for the Elpac power supply mod and $200 for upgrading the digital. Total cost $600.
DAC - Citypulse 7.2 - this is a bargain at $400 and bests DACs costing much much more.
Digital cable - Stereovox HDXV - bought used on Audigon for $60.
I paid ~ $1650 for all the above. Add another couple of hundred dollars for your interconnect and power cables of choice and I still spent less than $2000 for a very nice sounding system.
Replicating it with new equipment available today would add another $1000 and still keep it within your $3000 budget.
---Gary
