You guys are so helpful and forthcoming with great information, thanks so much!John, you're right, and I've been asking myself do I spend first on new speakers or the amp. The Athenas seem to have a detailed presentation, minus some better low-end. Good speakers for $160 I think. But an upgrade to Rotel, Adcom, NAD etc would probably necessitate new speakers, so there you go with money, money money. And then there's the wife, but that's for another forum.
The idea of auditioning units is something I want to do. Here in Nashville there are just 2 higher end dealers, not sure of their brand offerings, but I'm afraid I might find the prices of NEW items, diconcerting, so I would probably have to go with used. Right now I'm watching a couple of items on ebay; Rotel RA971 60w Integrated Amplifier and Matching Rotel RT-935AX AM/FM Tuner; and anOther auction for NAD PRE AMPLIFIER 1130, POWER AMPLIFIER 2200, TUNER 4130(the uppercase letters are not mine; i pasted from the listing) Not really interested in the turners in either one of these offerings, but i'm happy to see from knownothing that the rotel or nad could be good considerations, but are these that i watching too old or lacking in some way that i should really take into account? BTW i'm not asking anyone here to be the salespeson for any brand or to make my decisions for me, just your opinions as you guys have listened to alot more different components and configurations than I have.
thanx
Don in Tennessee
The idea of auditioning units is something I want to do. Here in Nashville there are just 2 higher end dealers, not sure of their brand offerings, but I'm afraid I might find the prices of NEW items, diconcerting, so I would probably have to go with used. Right now I'm watching a couple of items on ebay; Rotel RA971 60w Integrated Amplifier and Matching Rotel RT-935AX AM/FM Tuner; and anOther auction for NAD PRE AMPLIFIER 1130, POWER AMPLIFIER 2200, TUNER 4130(the uppercase letters are not mine; i pasted from the listing) Not really interested in the turners in either one of these offerings, but i'm happy to see from knownothing that the rotel or nad could be good considerations, but are these that i watching too old or lacking in some way that i should really take into account? BTW i'm not asking anyone here to be the salespeson for any brand or to make my decisions for me, just your opinions as you guys have listened to alot more different components and configurations than I have.
thanx
Don in Tennessee