Looking for a good system for my apartment. Any advise?

First thing is to audition speakers. They are as different as cuisine. I would be absolutely certain to audition Magnepan speakers.

When I was in a similar situation, I fell in love with Magnepan speakers and spent 70% of the budget there. It was a very good decision.

Spend as little as possible on cables, I mean like $20 each. Cables do make a difference, BUT (1) it is a major profit centre for someone else (2) expensive is not better (3) cost benefit ratio is lower than for anything else (4) when you buy real cheap, you can wait for the upgrade itch, test alternative cabling in your own system at your leisure, and let something prove it's worth. Then buy it and throw away the old stuff. Or, you can risk burning 20% of your budget for nothing.

IMO. YMMV. For perspective, my system is costly, DIY, and high end.

Should have mentioned: Magnepan speakers are VERY apartment friendly because the bass does not travel as much.

Sorry. Correction

cable cost/benefit: not much bang for buck is what I tried to say.

I've owned 3 pairs of those Quads for a dozen years, and only one panel has failed. Also a HV transformer. They sound great in the stereo room and unbelievable as HT center channel. 

Magnepans sound very fine too - but different. And they're a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot more robust. Magnepans do not have a HV supply, and so arcing is NOT a possibility. But it's a good idea to keep them out of the sun or the cement which holds the mylar to the frame will deteriorate.

I use Canare Starquad microphone cable for interconnect. Buy it bulk for $1 a foot. Starquad is available almost everywhere.

A recent audition put Switchcraft connectors near the pinnacle - WBT. Switchcraft connectors are available from Digikey for peanuts.

Anybody with a soldering pencil can do it for you. Put the dollars you saved into the cartridge. Of course, you could spend the entire $5K on cabling, but I wouldn't - and I doubt if you'll find much better than the above for any money.

IMO. YMMV.