looking to build best vintage solid state system

What's your budget?
Anything you're presently considering?

So circa 1999 equipment?

Is there a reason you chose 7+ instead of, say, 8+, or 6+?

You could buy 10+ year old equipment from Bryston or Aragon and do quite well.

For really bargain basement prices, you could buy 20+ year old equipment including:

Apt Holman preamp
Hafler DH 101 or DH 110 preamp
Yamaha C2a preamp
Hafler DH500 amp

....maybe a pair of used Magneplanar MGI b's or MG II's...or a pair of Dahlquist DQ 10s (restored)

and more or less be in business for < $1000.

Massive receivers and/or integrated amps by Yamaha, for example, in the 80's will sound surprisingly good for Wal Mart prices.

Of course, the older equipment is, the more you would want it to be in very good condition, owned by a meticulous audiophile etc.

Assuming you dont want the headaches or expense of servicing..

But these are just wild guesses off the top of my head.

Nsgarch asks good questions.

Amplifiers: Acurus A150(good all around performer at a budget, never agressive sounding), Arcam Delta 290 (more natural midrange than Accurus, but weaker bass), Pass Labs Aleph3(One fo the best amplifiers I have heard at any price, natural, detailed, musical, but only 30 watts/ch, used for ar ound 800 - 900).
CD player: Sony 707ES (brought mine to a local high-end shop, easily embarrassed a CAL 2-box player and a Rotel $1400machine with switchable dither, was equivalent to a $5000 EAD)
My favorite sepakers are anything Spica, but they do tend to have limited bass output, and the Angelus drivers were fairly easy to destroy. Another great speaker was the Audio Physic Spark.

email me. I have some great suggestions. I.E., Hafler XL-600 amplifier, etc. Jim

Thanks for the feedback thus far. budget of $2,000 and will upgrade over time. The 7 year is a random year. nothing special about it.

I'm not sure 7 years old qualifies as vintage. IMHO you need to go back to the 80's for that. I've picked up some great deals on early 90's amplifiers . B&K M200 Sonota monoblocks are hard to beat for the $'s. I have Bedini 100.100 (late 80's, but updated by Bedini 3 years ago) and it's fantastic. Early 90's Conrad Johnson amps are also great. There are some great preamps available the too - as long as you don't want remote control. I would stick to new for digital sources though - or at least 2000+.

How about Marantz Ma-5 monoblock? Sweet, punchy & musical!

Great feedback all! I havent bought anything yet and am still using my old Denon dra 345r as a received with Infinity sm-32. I am somewhat stagnant since I am not sure whether to buy the amp first, or the speakers. The porblem is that I heard the sonus faber cremona with primare components and for the first time understood the meaning "speakers disappeared" Anyway, prior to that i was leaning toward the B&W speakers with sunfire components. The bottom line is that all of this is way out of my budget and that somewhat describes my frusteration. Anyway, keep the feedback coming....thanks all!!!

You should find the speakers you like first. If at all possible go listen to them. Let us know your budget. As another poster stated an old Aragon or Rotel amp will work much better than your Denon. Concentrate on good speakers.