Vintage worth the time to explore?

I am somewhat biased since I own a recently refurbished Sony TA-N80ES. It's the same as the TA-N77ES but without the meters so it doesn't look as pretty. However, it sounds as good since the internals are the same. You should be able to find one for less than $1K refurbished (recapped, new transistors, etc.). If not a used one will run $400-$500 and another $300-$500 to be rebuilt. I own other great new amplifiers and am very happy with this Sony. I use it for a 2nd system with some Focal Kanta No.2 speakers and the sound is outstanding. It also has an attenuator on the amp that helps at low volume levels but I have never had a concern with that. If you want a receiver with all the pretty lights and meters I also would suggest a Sony, the STR-V6. I own one of those also and picked it up for $650 rebuilt and it is a fantastic receiver. It is connected to pair of "vintage" Mirage M760 speakers and tey are a great match. A pair of them can b pciked up for $500. I think they should go for a lot more as they sound better than many much more expensive speakers I recently auditioned. And 115WPC of the STR-V6 is good enough for most. Similar Pioneer, Marantz, Kenwood, Yamaha, and Sansui receivers are going for significantly more. Otherwise, if you can afford $2K then go with something more modern. There are a lot of great amps out there in that price bracket, both new and used. 

Unless you are willing to resuscitate vintage electronics, I wouldn't bother. I do have some vintage source equipment (an analog tuner and a turntable), but modern speakers and amplification. A great used amp that will chill out your bright speakers or room is one of the FMJ series Arcams. A FMJ 19 at 50 watts/channel will cost about $400. Very detailed and good at low volume. Also a used Rega Brio would be about the same watts and cost. 

I asked the same question and asked for comparisons recently as you can see here:  

consensus was no, not really worth it compared to modern gear.  

I've wanted to like vintage electronics but not much luck,  until a found a refurbished HK430 receiver which sounds great with my Elac 6.2, but not in a large room...

Why not open back headphones like Grado’s for when you want to play it loud? If you don’t want to try that, And I also second:

I find Grados to be very fatiguing and hard on my hearing at loud volumes. The dynamic drivers are right on top of your ears with their inevitable peaks and resonances (due to the simple cup design and driver mounting) that can cause damage at higher SPL. They do have a very exciting sound to them, but I can't listen long. Their PS500e (now discontinued) is probably my favorite of the lot without going back to the long OOP HP1000 series. Stax headphones are by far the easiest on my ears at loud volumes (same relative SPL) BUT the wrinkle is it’s hard for their dedicated amps to drive them to loud volumes. The Lambda-series Stax are easier to drive than Omega-class Stax, so they’re an excellent choice for starting out in Stax. Alternatively, get an old Stax step-down transformer box (e.g. SRD-7 Pro) that will allow Stax to be run off a normal stereo amplifier. There are also some newer alternatives for adapter boxes, but I’m not sure if they’re good. Even the old 1984 Stax Lambda Pro (or older yet - 1979’s Stax Lambda "Normal bias") still sounds AMAZING by today’s standards.

If you can stretch it the ES Lab ES-R10 (dynamic headphone and a surprisingly good replica of the legendary Sony MDR-R10) has an amazing balance of sound quality, being easy on the ears, and being easy as hell to drive, but they’re not cheap and they’re a limited run that’s about to dry up.