$40,000: What 2-channel system would you build?

I was looking at speakers first but then pivoted to focusing on electronics after I heard the Luxman m900u amp. Every speaker I heard with it and the Luxman c900u preamp sounded great to me. Speakers from $5K to $20K were all extremely enjoyable with the Luxman pair. I would have been happy with any of those speakers.

I am going to try the cheaper Benchmark LA4 preamp first on the 30 day home trial with the m900u amp. The LA4 is $2.5 - $3K. I have a feeling it will get me very close to the c900u sound (maybe even better). So that is $18K MSRP for amp and preamp. More than enough left over for a great speaker that won’t break the bank.

Another thing that intrigues me on the LA4 preamp is that some pretty smart audio guys on A’Gon indicated to me that I do not need to speed a lot of money on the XLR interconnect between the amp and preamp if I used a preamp that supports the AES48 standard. I plan on running a long XLR between the amp and pre so that I can move the system away from in between the speakers.

Since I do digital streaming I will also get a Sonare Signiture Rendu with the SystemOptique configuration. That is $5K but in the short term I can get by with my Sonare microRendu $800 which is still an excellent Ethernet-2-USB interface.

@fthngrg In today's dollars, your system is equivalent to $11,200. With that much cash you could get a fantastic sounding system. The new SS gear sounds so much better to me than the SS stuff I owned 20 years ago.

With a $11,200 price tag I would consider something like a NAD amp/preamp, Hegel integrated, or my current Peachtree Nova 150/300/500. Maybe some used KEF Reference 1 speakers. That would be a much better system than what I owned in past. My older systems were actually more expensive than this $11, 200 price tag. Things like DACs are so much better now and the speakers also sound way better today than in the past. I am sure there are outliers from the past that were better but for the most part I find new gear better.

Today, I see a large segment of manufacturers that charge a lot just to show the perception of quality. There is also a lot manufacturers with affordable prices that are also of very high quality.