Building a system from scratch (other than speakers)

The gear available now is quite different than even five years ago. There are a lot more "integrated" options, such as integrated preamp with DAC, DAC with preamp (there is a difference), even some integrated CD players with preamp function. 

Servers are a serious option and should not be overlooked. OTOH, you can use a computer such as a Mac Mini, as I do, and use a form of integrated to achieve your goal. 

Lot's of options. Do not buy hastily.  :)

Martin Logan electrostats have a pretty wicked impedance curve, so weather you chose tubes of SS get adequate power around 100 watts. I have Martin Logan Summits and have used both tubes and SS and they both sounded great just different.

Thank you all for the advice so far. To clarify a little bit:

simao - I live in central Mississippi, so high-end audio stores and in-home demos don't really exist here. The company that sold me the Martin Logans went out of business. I do have an audio consultant that helped me with home theater but he only deals in Mcintosh and Rotel and has no inventory/sound room.

adg101 - I was trying to be all-in around $5K but can stretch that some I need to. 

mesch - honestly, I don't know what the partition will be. I have a fair amount of vinyl and far more cd's. I'm sure I will lean more towards one than the other after I build the system and have some time with it. I mostly listen to classic rock (think grateful dead to led zeppelin), some newer rock/alternative leaning towards more acoustic (think nirvana unplugged to dave matthews/tim reynolds), and some classical, jazz, and blues. Sorry I'm not more help on the partition, that's why I was leaning towards the relatively cheaper turntable. 

jafant - thank you! yes, will have to start a new thread for cable/cord recommendations when I get components figured out.

douglas_schroeder - yes, trying not to be hasty and finding that very difficult! I had an Emotiva xsp1 & xpa2 in my amazon cart the other day just because I was being impatient and wanted to get going - decided to try to be strong and seek professional help i.e. this forum. When you say server/mac mini, are you meaning storing some form of uncompressed audio there to play through the system?

 

yes, trying not to be hasty and finding that very difficult! I had an Emotiva xsp1 & xpa2 in my amazon cart the other day just because I was being impatient and wanted to get going - decided to try to be strong and seek professional help i.e. this forum. 

You will find that patience is a virtue, both as a buyer, and as a seller.
Those in a hurry rarely get a good deal, unless they know the market very well.

Approaching just the amplification matter, those who choose tube amplification for MLs usually do it because MLs are oft unlistenable with SS, notice I stated oft not always.  Very harsh and revealing.  An Allnic Audio T-1500 listed on A'gon would be a very sweet match, image wildly and settle the panels.......however at approximately 12wpc 300B SET power they will NOT rock the MLs.

Rogue and EAR also make nice gear to drive the panels, again not to rock them.  For that you will need really expensive tube gear or heavy duty SS like Odyssey with lots of damping to control the panels.  These panels are tricky as a wattage rating is practically useless in translating what will happen.  Best of luck.