Hi David!
 How about spending most of the money on a good set of speakers and
upgrade the amp and sources later... That's the way to get the best
sound for the least amount of money, as even a cheap stereo can usually
power a decent set of speakers these days, and speakers are the most
sensitive item in the chain, as they are now the hardest to match to the
environment of your listening space, and are most critical to how good
or how bad your system is going to sound.
 So, if you have a limited ~$2k to invest, spend a lot of time to find
the set of speakers that does it for you and then get a cheaper
integrated or component system to go with it that you can upgrade as you
have funds, and need.
 Think this might be worth looking into? At least it is a way to get up
to the high end stuff some day should you feel you need it. It is
possible to get a very high quality sound from the start by doing things
this way.
-> CS> Could I get some ideas on a good way to spend under $2000 and
-> CS> get the best all around system within that budget?  The
-> CS> particulars are;  13X23 room with 8' to 12' ceiling ramped end
-> CS> to end.  12' of drapes along side wall.  Components would
-> CS> include tape deck, receiver, amping, CD deck and speakers.
-> CS> I plan to use my old turn table as it's quite satisfactory.
-> CS> There will be no TV, so I'm not concerned with interconnecting
-> CS> that type of equipment.  High value sources would be
-> CS> appreciated, too.  Music taste is very eclectic, running from
-> CS> Hendrix to baroque (that might be the tough part).  Thanks!
Your room could use some looking at and selecting a set of speakers that
will work well with Jimi and with Bach, Handel and the rest might take
some special effort. Please let us know what you decide to purchase. I
would suggest putting about $1500 into the speakers, there are some
truly excellent speakers in that price range.
It seems that the layout of the room is somewhat strange, I would
probably want to put the speakers on the curtained wall side if
possible as that would reduce early reflections and give the rest of the
room a symetricalness that any other way would not have.
Bonnie *:>
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