As mentioned, heading down to echoloft.com.sg will yield tons of information about HiFi systems as well as a Buy and Sell section for reasonable used gear.
Based on your musical preferences, may I suggest considering a vinyl approach as opposed to CDs. Vinyls reproduce those jazzy sounds in full analogue glory, imparting their warm sonic signature to the music. Also, all music produced in the 70s and 80s were on vinyl, and you would be getting the true vibe of that era, as opposed to digital remasters on CDs. For a vinyl setup, you would need a turntable, vinyl pre-amp, amp and speakers.
I don't claim to be an audiophile expert but I try to buy the best equipment that I can afford, and unfortunately its also on the budget side of things. However I get a very decent sounding system with a $300 Lenco turntable, $300 Cambridge Audio integrated amp, $250 yaqin vacumm pre-amp, $400 floorstanding Dali speakers. I did get a good price on the speakers at Adelphi coz the owner of the shop was phasing out that brand and he sold me the displays so you can get good deals there if you know roughly what you want and the budget you are willing to spend.
If you want a decent integrated amp, I have only good things to say about the Cambridge Audio amps and you really cant go wrong, however whether you choose a CD or vinyl setup if you want vacuum tubes the cheapest option is to go Made in China. Brands like Yaqin/other random chinese name brands are clones of the big name brands but made by legitimate companies. I've been to audio shops in China and Hongkong that sell both high end brands and these cheaper clone models. There are a couple of reviews online about them and they offer the BEST vacuum tube amp value you can get at the moment. Some shops in Sim Lim Square/Tower rebrand these China amps under their house brand and sell them at a $100-200 markup but the best way to get them is to go to ebay and buy them from HongKong or China dealers. You can't test them but as a side note, it really doesnt matter as long as it powers on and works because when you go to a shop and test some audio equipment, their speakers, amp and wires are all different to what you would have at home, so what you are hearing in the audio shop is not exactly what you would hear at home. You just have to rely on previous experience to mix and match the best components for your system.
If it were me, I would get a Cambridge Audio CD player as well, super value, good reviews and not that expensive at Sim Lim Square. I find Adelphi shops a little bit more expensive than the shops at SLS/Tower. About $200-250 will get you an entry level player. For interconnects and wires I use Canare cables. They are very decent and lots of people have good stuff to say about it. Not many people know but you can actually get them cheap from SL Tower, theres a shop on the second level that sells them in whatever length you want, however thick you want. Quad core also available. All you need to do is solder on the right Audio interconnect heads and you're good to go, cables for cheap! Don't bother with the expensive brands of wires and speaker cables as yet coz while there may or may not be a difference, paying $300 more for that marginal difference is not worth it.
There are tons of stuff to tweak which I haven't even mentioned like power supplies etc, but you can modify your system as you go along. I hope this helps but if you have any further questions feel free to PM me.. or do a search on echoloft. People there are far more knowledgeable than I am!
