So many things to consider. I agree that the listening room is important — I would love to try Magnapan speakers but my listening room is too small to give them the spacing they need to shine. If you must use the listening room for more than just listening (e.g., living room), and your partner isn’t fond of having equipment dominate that room, then you need to select components that fit within the room without dominating it, There are compromises to be made unless you can afford not to compromise,
I think one should determine their budget and then select components that fit within that budget. It makes little sense to spend a ton of money on one item and then have to skimp on the rest. Also, you can buy better equipment used for the same money that lesser equipment costs new.
If I were to start over (and I’m fairly new to this and not at all as experienced as many members here), I would probably start with streaming music instead of purchasing “hold in your hand” media. Unless you know that you prefer records or CD’s, or already have a lot of them, I think it is most convenient to stream music rather than buy the turntable and the CD player and the record/CD collection. As time goes on, I find I seldom play records and play CD’s only occasionally. I could have put the money I spent on them into a good streamer.
Good luck to your friend and yes, remember to have fun!