When I was in high school I got a summer job and my parents made me save 75% of the money. With the remaining 25% I could get whatever I wanted, I ended up blowing $400 on a four channel home stereo, the kind of cheap and crappy unit with everything, tuner, tape deck, amp, in one little box driving cheap little speakers. It of course sounded better than the even cheaper stereo's I had before then and it gave me a limited surround sound in my Playstation 1 games.

It was shortly thereafter when I realized I needed to get an amp and speakers for better quality audio. I bought an inexpensive Pioneer unit and I don't even remember anymore the speakers I was driving with it. Some sort of bookshelf speakers I imagine. Anyway, over the years I have bought from thrift stores and other used equipment to piece together my current system which sounds great, especially when you consider I've spent less than $300 on the whole setup:

Marantz SR7400
Niles SI-275 amp
CSW Tower II