please help a rookie

My most recent upgrade had the same budget as your start up (lucky you!!) ... I ended up with killer bang for the buck with the following used system;

Classe CAP-150 integrated w/ phono stage
Hales Revelation 3 speakers
CAL Icon II CD deck (carried over from my old system)
MSB Link III DAC
speaker cables are soon to be Kimber 8TC
interconnects are Kimber Hero
digital link is soon to be Kimber AGDL.

Your budget leaves a little room to max out the MSB with upsampling and a trick power supply.

I would also consider looking for a used Adcom 750, Musical Fidelity or maybe a balanced Theta Miles (the Classe has balanced inputs!!!!!).

Anyone considering the Revelation 3s used should be aware of the factory box never being made to survive UPS!!! Insist on pickup/delivery, double box (difficult at best) or putting them on a skid and giving the local LTL carrier some business.

Buy a rug. Have fun. Don't let the 'sound of the system' overtake your enjoyment of the music. Keep going to live performances ... they recalibrate your ears to what instruments and voices really sound like.

I'd buy F. Alton Everest's "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget" and learn what your room needs. A modest system in a well-treated room will usually sound better, be a lot less fatiguing, than a high end system in an acoustic nightmare of a room. Your room dimensions give you a good start. You can then follow some of the good advice others have offered.

Thanks everybody for the very interesting answers. To be onest,I did some research but way too little listening in the high-end demo room, partially because I am living in a rural area[ SC], without many dealers around...

For folks like me, yours advice is quite wellcomed, as it will be easier to select from a small number of options,when I'll visit the audio stores

B&W wise, I listened to 602s and 805s. NTS 7-9 are in my price range. Talking about money, nothing is carved in stone. I'll rather strech now a little if it is neccesary to get on the best place in the diminishing returns curve...That means I am opened to any suggestions, but the plan was to get an integrated amp/cd/speakers. I 'll get a rug, thanks!

Also, before you buy, please realize that the performance of your hifi is highly dependant on speaker positioning, and that optimum speaker positioning usually puts the speakers some distance into the room. See
http://www.cardas.com/insights/roomsetup.html
If your current room layout forces you to place speakers close to walls then you must specify this to the dealer since many speakers will not work at all well in this configuration. I'd go as far as to suggest that you'd be wasting at least half of your budget if you end up purchasing speakers which are unsuitable for your room placement.
My suggestions of manufacturers, based on my experience, mainly in European electronics (in addition to previous good suggestions) :
Speakers : Proac, Spendor, Harbeth, Epos
Amplifiers : Densen, Cyrus(Mission), Naim, Creek
CD player : Rega, Creek, Marantz (good value for money)

Also, call ahead to dealers and see if they have any used equipment you can demo. As a newbie I wouldn't mail order used equipment without a demo, but if a dealer allows you to demo you might just stumble on a bargain.

Good luck !

The Creek (or other) integrated would go well with the CDM-7NT. They are efficient 90db, so you do not need a big powerful amp. (The Creek is 85 watts/ 8ohms).