Amplifier suggestions

find a used pass or proceed five channel amp...
if you want to save some money and get an excellent THX multi channel amp find a parasound hca 1206 which has 6 channels at 135 wpc/8 ohms, 200/4 ohms....4 channels can be bridged for two channels giving 350 wpc...

used about 700 to 900...get one with original double packaged box as it is a bear to package....originally 2000 bucks in the mid 90s.....john curl design...try it before you spend 3 large....sell it if it does not satisfy...I suspect it will

Dynaudio and Sim Audio have always been known to have stunning synergy.

If you can go a bit above $3k, you could grab a nice used Sim Titan 5-channel (aka, HT-200-5) and build a great system around it. Cool-running, smooth and natural-sounding, with sweet mids and warm mid-bass (I miss the one I used to have!).

Please do yourself a favor and audition a Linn 5125 if you can. These can be had for under 3k new and well under 2k used, and are incredible for the price. One knocked the daylights out of the similarly priced McCormack DNA multichannel amp that I recently auditioned in my system. If you are able to borrow one to take home, you will likely also need to borrow speaker wire with BFA plugs, which is a pain (unless you use something like AudioQuest plugs already). I can think of no other downside.

Check out Red Dragon Audio amplifiers.

www.RedDragonAudio.com

Thanks for these suggestions. I see Proceed amps can be had fairly inexpensive. Are they good amps. I will also take a look at Sim Audio an dLinn

The Linn 5125 only weighs in a 11lbs. How is this possible for 125w x 5

Linn uses (an excellent) switch mode power supply, thus no need for the massively heavy torroidal power supplies you find in most higher end amps. (Dynavector also uses a switch mode power supply in their gear that may be even better than Linn's.)

Some people are psychologically attached to massive amps. I personally am not - what matters is how the thing sounds. I also actually prefer my audio gear to be manageable in size. It makes placement more flexible, makes it much easier to work with (e.g., switching out components for A/B's), and has much higher WAF. I don't think I would have a prayer of having my gear in the living room if I were using something like Levinson or Krell.

I am currently using a Sherbourn 7/2100 which is 7x200 into 8 ohms and I believe 300 into 4 ohms. Running this into my Dali Euphonia MS4's and I can tell you that the Sherbourn never runs out of gas. Sound quality is quite excellent and probably one of the best values for the money on the market for a multi channel. At full retail new they are around 3k. You should be able to get a good deal on a used one around $1700-1900.

Best of luck in your quest.