It's fun spending other people's money.
$5k should be a healthy budget for amp and speakers. Don't concern yourself with "matching" the amp and turntable or speakers. All amps have a very flat frequency response so look at features. Do you like to listen with no EQ applied or do you want bass and treble controls? Do you need both MC and MM phono inputs or just sticking to one cartridge? Amplifier power will depend on speaker sensitivity so you want a certain minimum power. Some tube amps are underpowered unless you have very sensitive speakers and they can be overpriced. Tube amps can look nice but don't provide any real benefit in my view. I would stick with solid state and put your money in the speakers where it really counts. Even if you get towers, I would try and get an amp with subwoofer out. You could start with towers and if the bottom end is lacking you could always add a sub down the road, but you want an amp with subwoofer integration if possible. When you get into integrated amps instead of video receivers many do not have sub out unfortunately.
Here's a sampling of what's available on Gibbys for integrated amps. You could spend $500 to $2k depending on features and power. Something like the Denon PMA-800NE might be a nice place to start but the Denon and Marantz amps seem to lack subwoofer outs. Some of the NAD amps have that feature. If the amp lacks phono inputs there are lots of good phono pre-amps out there as well. If you like the compact Rega amp I could look around for some other compact integrated amps as well.
ElectronicsForLess is a good place to look around for on-line sales and they can have decent prices. Have a look at
Crutchfield as well. Some speaker brands are not available through the big internet retailers though.
For towers in Canada, I would be looking at Paradigm, Focal, Monitor Audio, KEF. Maybe Klipsch as well if you like their horns. I looked around the $4k area.
Paradigm Premier 800F is under $3k. The 800F is 9 1/8" wide and is well reviewed for offering good value for the money. The Founder 80F is $4500 and their newest line. The 80F cabinet is under 9" but it has outriggers that are 11.7" wide. (Also take into account if you need to toe-in the speakers, which takes up more width.) The 80F uses a mid-woofer while the bigger 100F uses a discrete mid but the price jumps to $6500 retail.
Focal Chora 826 is around $3k. (Note that there is a D version with ATMOS speakers on top). The next line up is the Aria series, but the 926 is $6k new. I almost bought a pair of B-stock Aria 936 last year. Really nice speakers.
Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G is around $3800 and 9" wide (but 12.5" with the outriggers). The Silver 300 7G is around $3100 and is smaller (under 11" with the outriggers). Their Gold and Platinum lines are expensive but the Silvers yield good value for the dollar.
KEF R5 is around $4200 and the R7 $6k. Uses their Uni-Q concentric mid and tweeter. These were on my list and I considered a used R11 last year as well.
If you like a more traditional speaker design the KLH Model Five is around $3k and well regarded.
Polk Audio Reserve series is another to consider that is underrated. About $3k for the R700.
Those are retail prices, so you have some negotiating room. If you are near the GTA there are some dealers that offer B-stock and demos at a discount. You should also have a look on CanuckAudioMart if you want to consider used. I found the KEF R11s for under $5k. You can search by province if shipping is an issue and you want to see what's local.
