40 watt amp with 8 ohm speakers

Thanks, everyone! This is all extremely helpful.

An excellent speaker cable for your combo would be Kimber's 4TC. Pairs are usually available used either in here or on eBay fairly cheaply.

I think Dukes' advice is solid; I also would take a look at some of the Denon players; you could buy new or pick up a higher end unit used.
Good luck on your system!

40 watts should be enough if you don't listen to your music at very loud levels. Those Ohm speakers are rated at 90dB/watt. Here is a link from Ohm Walsh on the specs of your speakers: http://www.ohmspeakers.com/store_item_detail.cfm?item_ID=10&cart_ID=425217576688

Would also second Duke's suggestion on getting on Oppo. I had an Oppo DV-970HD which sounded pretty good for the price. For your budget, you could go for their top-line 983. Or if you just want a CD player, the Cambridge Audio 540 or 640 have had excellent reviews in your price range. Currently AudioAdvisor has a demo 640 for sale around $500.

Slbenz

If they are they CAM/PRO-32: the efficiency is 90db/1w/1m and 6 ohms nominal. That means your SS NAD(which has a lot of reserve in the power supply anyway) will output slightly more wattage than it's 8 ohm rating. With that efficiency, the speakers will produce very satisfying SPLs. You should be well pleased with the combo's performance. CDP: If you can find one of these used, it should go well with the rest of your system and it's easily upgradable: (http://www.upscaleaudio.com/view_category.asp?cat=50) some AudioGoner comments: (http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1142238133&read&keyw&zz++tjoeb) It seems Kevin used to have a trial period with the units. He may still. Hard to go wrong when you can audition the piece in your own system. If you happen to find one: Install a pair of Siemens E188CCs for a real musical treat!

Depends if the amp has some current limiting feature. Its not the power but the short impulse current peaks that limit the power more than a steady state power rating. Maybe this is why people say tubes "sound" more powerful than solid state. I think NAD has some soft clipping feature which may or may not limit current flow.

I'm not familiar with those Ohm speakers, but 40 watts is probably sufficient for most applications. If I recall correctly, only their old Walsh type drivers were really low efficiency.

As for a good budget CD player, I suggest you look at Oppo dvd players. I use a DV-980H. You'll spend lot less than $500 and later on if you get the upgrade bug you can buy an external DAC (which is what I did).

Best of luck to you.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer