Help me spend $3000 on a used amp

Bryston 3BSST2 if you are limited in space. Bryston 4BSST2 if you need the extra power and you have more room. Both amps are dual mono. At your budget,these amps can be obtained on the used market with many years of warranty remaining. Bryston upgraded both of these amps. A call to Bryston and the ever gracious James Tanner will provide the serial numbers when the upgrades began. Bryston has excellent customer support and honors second owner warranty if the original sales slip is included. A worry free way of buying used audio gear.

After reviewing some suggestions I have some ideas.

The Ayre v5xe has peaked my attention most. I was shocked by how theres not much inside the cabinet. Looks to be a basic design which would allow so much room to do tweaking inside if wanted.

The pass x150.5 has the prettiest face and looks like a well regarded unit.

The KWA-150 modwright also looks well respected

These seem like the most viable options. I had a bad experience with Mcintosh as you can read hear on agon when I reviewed the Mac 7 channel amp that was around $8000 against a Gemstone 7 channel that was about $2500. This was in 2007. The cheaper gemstone sounded much better. I also cant stand the look of Mcintosh.

I get confused with krell cause there seem like so many amps out there and would not know where to start.

Tarp38, I agree on the warranty and a business that stands behind their product so long is highly admired and a big plus when buying.

There is a tread here on agon that has the ayre v5 or bryston 4bst and the thread seem to like the ayre v5 and a few agreed the ayre will have a more refined treble.

Not sure what the 4bst is like to a 4bsst2??

Things I have heard... Ayre amps are going to sound leaner but smooth,
the only Modwright amp I had I ended up sending back to modwright for
repairs twice within the first month of ownership. He fixed on his own dollar
but annoying non the less. I have enjoyed my Pass labs XA100.5's but the
bass is not as tight as the Krell FPB300cx. I have heard from a few
buddies that owned Bryston that the non squared amps do not sound all
that good. I have heard the SST2's though and thought they sounded nice.
The midrange is a little smoother on the pass though than any of the
above, speaking about the XA.5 series though not the X.5. I found the X
series to not have the lush midrange that the XA series has. The XA100.5's
are $18k though. Anyways there's a quick and dirty on my impressions of
those.

Harri009, the pass xa100.5 would be to much cost but the xa30.5 would be an option.

Looks like a xa100.5 and x150.5 are around the same used price. the xa.5 class a sounds like a better sounding amp the x.5 class ab. But the xa30.5 is only 30 watts to a x150.5 150 watts make me concerned if the 30 watts is to low. I have 90db speakers.

Be curious if anyone compared those two pass amps.

The krell 300cx is peaking my interest.