If I was buying a little starter system at ~US$1000, I certainly wouldn't bother with new. That's for schmucks.
Bargains can be had if you put some effort in.
Pick up a Yamaha AS-300/301/500/501/701 2nd hand. I picked one up recently in perfect condition (with remote) Yamaha AS-300 for
AU$25. It's a proper amplifier, not a little toy and it has plenty of real power, perfect channel balance and volume tracking, along with flat FR, low distortion and a heap of useful inputs and features.
View attachment 76667
My local pawnbroker had a pair of vintage Infinity Reference 50s floorstanding 3 ways (actual US made Infinity with EmitR planar tweeters, not cheap Chinese Harman crap) for $2 which need the mids and woofers re-rolling. Not kidding, I can show you the price tag. No problem, $10 worth of foam, some decent re-rolling skills and you have real speakers for
AU$12 pair. Beat that.
(internet pic)
View attachment 76668
Even those Pioneer bookshelves/floorstanders (21 or 22 series) everyone raves about are cheap on the 2nd hand market. I paid
$80 for two bookshelves, two floorstanders and a centre speaker at a garage sale- all unmarked and like new. Not that I'd recommend them- in my opinion they are horrible sounding, but Amir liked them.
View attachment 76669
View attachment 76670
That leaves you at least US$900 to burn on a DAC...