I realise this is going back off topic again, but I'd have to agree with audioguru in regards to Bose being crap.
From the larger companies, I like B&O, McIntosh and Harman/Kardon.
Not that I can afford B&O or McIntosh... There are some of those smaller 'family' companies around that do a lot of hand made stuff which is relatively good too...
Back ON topic however... Go with what everyone's already suggested, another thing would be to check all the cabling to ensure that nothing has had a go at them whilst in storage. Also to get rid of the scratching noise you can first try cleaning the pots with contact cleaner and if that doesn't help... replace them.
OR... Scrap what you have, and get/build something decent. I can assure you any amount of dollars, that you will hear the difference between something half decent and what you already have.