Help me spend $3000 on a used amp

I'd keep an eye out for a pair of Parasound JC1 mono's. They "might" fall into your price range and are outstanding amplifiers.

I'm also a big fan of Pass and certain Krell amplifiers. I've always felt Ayre was a bit thin for my tastes.

Good luck and let us know what you listen to and your thoughts.

Mtrot, keep us informed on the krell 400cx. Why did you choose the Krell over a pass labs amp?

I have been online all day and the pass labs xa30.5 could be a top choice. I may have put that over the x150.5.

The ayre v5 is loosing favorability when I always hear about the leanness issues.

hk fan I will check out the parasounds.

Freemand, I wanted to try a really big, powerful amp, for a change, so as to see if it lights a fire under my speakers to any significant effect. Also, my listening actually includes more home theater movies than two channel music, so my top priorities were dynamic attack, uncompressed sound, and authoritative bass.

I was leaning Pass, but the more I read, and spoke with a few people, I came to feel the Krell might be more appropriate. Another factor is that, in order to get as much power in a Pass(X350.5) as I got in the Krell, I would have to spend $2000 or $3000 more.

Also, I was able to audition and compare a Krell FPB300cx against a set of Pass XA100.5 monoblocks in the same system. Now, what I observed was that the Krell was indeed more dynamic, while the Pass did render the music with better soundstaging and authenticity of instruments, as should be the case with the Pass pair retailing for $16,500. But the Krell was no slouch either. So, I decided to try a Krell.

Mtrot, I have been solely a two channel music in a dedicated room for 6 years and is only recently I brought a good samsung 32 inch tv into the room. The last thing I wanted in my 2 channel was a big massive tv cause the focus is two channel music.

But, I now believe, perhaps that most high end two channel should have some kind of monitor in their room. Why, cause there are great blu ray concerts I now hear in high res high def going though a solid dac that accepts these high res formats(and why not hear and WATCH a concert in a high end two channel setup that so many invest in). I have quite a high end home theater setup, but now its out of commision and its only cause I dont care to hear it and like the two channel room thats been highly tweaked with acoustical treatments and such.

Point, I am beginning to like movies and concerts on two channel and not home theater!

With that being said, I understand why you went with the krell and will have to keep us informed on the results, but I think I would still go with an amp that renders music over movies. Perhaps, the pass would be more up my catagory??

A can of worms may have opened when talking two channel and a tv in the same room!