What's your mood, SS or tube amp? Why choose when you can have both for $300?
This wicked cool SMSL
AND this knockout Douk Audio tube amp (which I own and love, in wintertime--I'm going to use it to heat my house)
And to keep the traditional thing going, Polk Audio RTi A1 bookies which I got open-box for $199.95
and which absolutely amaze me. That's exactly $500 so you'll have to use Bluetooth or Chromecast
If you need to make up the fudging I just did, buy this
Monoprice tube amp (I bought three!) which is now about $110.
It comes with Bluetooth built-in (and works incredibly well) so you just need your phone. You do have a phone, right?
Oh wait. The SMSL has Bluetooth built-in, too. So treat yourself to an imported beer or two. Actually, I like that SMSL for the way it looks, but the Lepai mentioned upthread for only $24 sort of blows everything else out of the water, financially speaking. I'm as amazed by them as I am by anything else. The
Lepai LP-2020TI has replaced the 2020+ and I can vouch for it, owning three of those too, with another one on the way (setting up a friend's super-cheap system with Micca
MB42X bookies. The Miccas keep getting cheaper. I paid $108 and they're now $79.99 with shipping included).
Speakers are the one component I don't think you can cheap out on too much, beyond that.