Amp for PSB Stratus Gold

Given the speakers, I think a Parasound A21 or a Rotel 1090 would work very well. You should be able to get either for a lot less than $2500.

I remember them being a bit heavy in the bass. I had a friend that drove them with a Nakamichi P7. That would be way under your budget. I would expect a Pass or Threshold would do a good job too. Belles would be on my list also. IMO, something on the bright side wouldn't be a problem. I'm not saying these amps are bright, but you said what you had in mind was...

Krell Kav-500i/400ix/300il. IMO these are better sounding/built then the current models besides the fbi which retails for over $15K. Heard several demos with Krell and PSB-Stratus series resulting in near perfect synergy.

You need not spend thousands of dollars to get a very good stereo amp - take a look at the Emotiva.com offerings. Their XPA-2 amp offers 300 watts/ch., 5-year warranty, 30-day in-home trial, and is $799:

http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpa2

If you want their top of the line amp, look at the XPR-2 - 600 watts/ch., dual-differential, 2.5kv toroidal transformer, same warranty and in-home trial, $1699:

http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/amplifiers/products/xpr2

The Emo amps have gotten rave reviews from all who tested them and their owners are tickled pink by the sound and the value...

-RW-

http://app.audiogon.com/listings/solid-state-aragon-8008st-2-channel-amplifier-2013-03-29-amplifiers-91748

No harm in making a reasonable offer.

Owned them for years and they worked great with McCormack dna amps.

I used a pr. years ago with a Parasound HCA-3500. Also tried but sold a big Rotel. For under 1500.00 used I would buy another Parasound or get the newer model Parasound A21.

I had Goldis for years and ran them with a Rotel RB-1090 as suggested by Zd542 and for me they were a great match. I switched to much more expensive Parasound JC1 monoblocks and ended up buying another RB-1090 after a while because (for me again)they had better synergy. The Rotel made for a robust combination that wasn't too forward. One thing is for sure-those PSBs love lots of power.

Parasound A21 would drive your speakers beautifully. I have heard the Silver-i and they were really nice speakers. The Gols must be a step up. You can buy the A21 brand-new for much less than your budget.

I drive mine with dual Adcom GFA-2535's bridged to mono. I'm a little skeptical of this configuration because Adcom warns that, in bridged mode, they should not be used for speakers with less than 6 ohms impedance. Furthermore, those PSB's can dip down to near 2.5 ohms, and I'm hesitant to crank the volume too much for fear of thermal overload. Might be time to check out that sweet Emotiva.

MCCormack DNA1.0