Outlaw Audio and their receiver for the amp. Speakers will be a bit tough to keep it in your budget for something really good, but I'd look at PSB, Monitor Audio, KEF or Wharfdale. Another possibility would be NAD for the electronics.

Audio Advisor would be a decent place to look at what is available within your budget. I think the Outlaw receiver is around $600. It's on sale pretty often. They sell direct from their website.

Hi Wraak

Don’t be afraid to stop in the local hi-fi shop to audition some equipment in person. Anyone local selling brands like NAD, PSB, B&W, Rotel, Arcam, Tannoy (basically any shop not selling the plastic systems you mention) should have some good choices in your price range.

But while we’re here on the Internet…

If you’re “all digital” consider Wadia’s 151, http://www.musicdirect.com/p-2701-wadia-151-powerdac-mini.aspx which is an integrated amplifier with a built-in high-quality DAC. A friend has one and loves it. But it only has digital inputs – you can’t connect an RCA cable from your CD player or the headphones of your iPod to it. Musical Fidelity has something similar, http://www.musicdirect.com/p-144111-musical-fidelity-v90-amp-usb-integrated-amp.aspx

If you’re not all digital, NAD is an easy choice for low-priced electronics, and this one has tone controls http://www.audioadvisor.com/NAD-C-326BEE-Stereo-Integrated-Amplifier/productinfo/NAC326BEE/#.U9fMl_ldUWI.

NAD is consistently highly-rated relative to price by Stereophile, http://www.stereophile.com/content/2014-recommended-components-integrated-amps-receivers

You asked about tubes and Jolida does make some inexpensive tube integrateds, http://www.musicdirect.com/p-12751-jolida-fx10-integrated-tube-amp.aspx. Note a Class D rating from Stereophile.

Creek (Class B), Cambridge Audio, Musical Fidelity, Rotel, Arcam (Class C), Music Hall, Peachtree (B) and even Marantz make good products that you might find on discount.

I don't know anyone who's bought an equalizer and quality integrateds won't include them at the low end. High end ones include them for room correction/THX. A few recommendations here, http://www.stereophile.com/content/2014-recommended-components-signal-processors but nearly all would put you out of your budget.

PSB makes great economical loudspeakers
http://www.audioadvisor.com/PSB-Alpha-B1-Bookshelf-Speakers/productinfo/PBALB1/#.U9fLGPldUWI

And Stereophile's Recommended Components lists low-cost options from companies like Music Hall, Tannoy, Wharfedale and others. Other popular brands are B&W, Monitor Audio, KEF, Focal.
Whereas “you can’t go wrong” with NAD, speakers are much more personal. And some high-end manufacturers just do not make good low-end speakers. So you can’t shop for speakers on reputation as easily as you can the electronics. If you really can’t find a shop to listen, make sure you’re buying from a site with a 30 day return policy. (Disclaimer: I’ve never bought from the sites I’m linking to, but musicdirect.com seems to have stricter language in their return policy.)

I would not recommend buying used low-cost tube gear (replacement tubes will cost you more than you think). But if you know what you want, you can definitely save buying floor demos from a quality store or used gear from audiogon.com.

...go with this & you will not have to suffer buyers' remorse.