Welcome @adversam. You are certainly on the right track with all your choices.
Don't let that awful bully Miller put you off your course. He is obsessed by ultra high efficiency speakers and therefore ignores 90% of speakers many of which have superlative sound quality, including panels like Magnepan. You should also try electrostatics when your budget allows.
As to amps, like others I suggest you tap the used market. High end solid state leviathans push out bags of watts for decades without needing service. My Krell KRS200s, pure Class A, were built in the mid-80s. I bought them in 1989 and had them fully serviced and re-capped just once, in 2005. They cost £35,000 or something new. I paid £8,000 and they still sell for that. And wow! they don't half look the business. I used to be able to lift them!
Don't let that awful bully Miller put you off your course. He is obsessed by ultra high efficiency speakers and therefore ignores 90% of speakers many of which have superlative sound quality, including panels like Magnepan. You should also try electrostatics when your budget allows.
As to amps, like others I suggest you tap the used market. High end solid state leviathans push out bags of watts for decades without needing service. My Krell KRS200s, pure Class A, were built in the mid-80s. I bought them in 1989 and had them fully serviced and re-capped just once, in 2005. They cost £35,000 or something new. I paid £8,000 and they still sell for that. And wow! they don't half look the business. I used to be able to lift them!