Yo peeps, after days and days of auditioning, I have narrowed it down to the following system:

Micromega Minium CD Player
Euphonic Research Pre & Power Amp (Malaysia's best kept secret is super excellent! ) Its retailing for GBP 2995 (RM 20k) in the UK! 
Thiel CS 1.5 Floorstander Speakers (2nd Hand)
Euphonic Research Dendrite Silver Interconnects (x2)
Clearaudio Squint Speaker Cables
Price - Around RM 13k.

System sounds excellent, soundstaging is so wide, sound is detailed and bass is really strong, tight and well controlled. IMHO, it sounds better than even the Primare and Pro Ac Studio combo that I tried out that costs almost double. The other thing I dont really like about the Primare and Pro Ac is of course the crazy pricing by the local disti    Also tried out the Marantz PM 7001 KI and SA 7001 KI with Epos M12.2s but it seemed to lack that little treble sparkle for vocals and classical and raw drive when it came to rocking out 

Of course I am well aware that the CD Player is the weak link in the system and will look to replace it when the next AV fest arrives. 

Anyway, what I have learnt is to certainly trust your own ears when auditioning systems, and dont let people poison you too much into higher end stuff. From my previous budget of RM 8k I have stretched it to the limit.    Hifi sure is an EXPENSIVE HOBBY! 

BTW am still open to any comments or suggestions. Pricing seem ok? Any other stuff that I should check out? Thanks guys, you have been great! 

Hi ppl,
I am very new to hi-fi, but I wanted to set up a hi-fi system. I listen mostly to jazz which have a lot of vocal emphasis, as well as to big bands.

Depending on mood, I am into rock/alternative as well.

So, given this, which player, what speakers, which cables, what ampliers, which shop and how much?

Well, if you have anything that you need to unload due to upgrades, please also PM me with you offer.

...well, the overall damage I am looking is between RM4000-RM5000. If the sound is good and the set up can be under RM3000, that'll good.