Synergistic Integrated and CDP under 5k

From a purely musical perspective, the Ayre combo will be very tough to beat (I own the AX-7e integrated with the earlier CX-7 myself). Make sure to have heard it before you decide!

Your choice may however be influenced by other considerations as well, in particular:

Marantz PM 11 S1 plus SA 11 S1 (even better SA 11 S2, but I guess that will probably bust the budget constraints) for good integrated phono stage and SACD (I heard these at the dealer's a while ago).

T+A E-Series "Power Plant" plus "Music Player". The Power Plant is a switch-mode amp, very stable with big power and ultra-wide bandwidth; the Music Player is first and foremost a very good cdp, but including network streaming client, iPod connectivity, dac for external digital equipment, etc., have a look here:
http://www.taelektroakustik.de/eng/ta2/e_system/e_serie.htm
(btw they also offer the cd player without the server functionality)
Heard at the Munich fair.

Gooddomino, don't worry, the combo is a winner with rca interconnects as well. I presently use AMR IC-77 (the ICs that come with the CD-77; need to update my systems page), but as I keep reading about the gear being even better with balanced ICs I have grown very curious myself and have recently ordered a set of Virtual Dynamics Nite balanced ICs. I guess they will arrive some time next week (depending on how long customs want to sit on them, what a drag ...)