HELP Lightning strikes and opportunity knocks


Audiophiles will love this story! I have had and loved a Cambridge Audio 640A and 640C combo running through Analysis Plus Oval One interconnects and XLO ER12 speaker cables to Totem Rainmaker monitors (and Grado SR80 cans) for four years now. I'm all about value! Now for the horrible tragedy: Our family room home theater receiver died, necessitating the trade of my 640A into the theater rig to provide the sound for the Nemo, Curious George, and Signing Time (a great video series for teaching babies and toddlers sign language) videos. Without these videos, we and our 2-year-old twin sons may not have survived (yes, the 640A saved a few lives here). We didn't want to run out and buy a new receiver as we are about to move and buy a new house, so we wanted to wait until we saw the new situation. Therefore, the CA 640A was begrudgling doing its toddler-pacifying duty when our home was struck by lightning! Smoke came out out of the amp. The stench was sickening. The (sigh) Monster Cable power strip did nothing. The amp is now dead. The horror of our twins going without their morning Mickey Mouse Playhouse is mitigated only by the joy of shopping for a new amp! So I need a new amp. I have a MUCH larger budget now than I did when I bought the 640A/C/Rainmaker system (on Audiogon of course), but I don't feel like scapping the whole system and starting anew. I'm tempted to surf Audiogon until a CA 640A v2 comes up for sale, but I also don't want to miss this opportunity (my wife's first reaction to learning that the amp died was: "you must be psyched!" God, I love her!) to upgrade the whole shebang. What has happened in the last four years in integrated amps, and is it worth upgrading to the 840A or changing brands? My next planned purchases were an iPod classic, Wadia iTransport, and PS Audio Digital Link III DAC. I trust you guys - don't let me down!
rogercmd

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