I second the Arpege, but I wouldn't buy one again. I used to own this amplifier. It is in my opinion in the top 2 or 3 of many that I have owned. HOWEVER the following reasons make me stay away from it. For one thing, dealers are almost non-existent, and those who are still left have some issues with the distributor. He does not let them offer any discounting whatsoever, not even a dollar ! Secondly, if you need service - good luck! I once waited a long long time to get a simple reply from the distributor (my dealer had dropped the line) because I wanted some ''premium priced'' ''Audiomat approved'' tubes (sure). I just put in tubes from Upscale Audio and it was just dandy. Overall, this amplifier IS nice, and I was a bargain five years ago. However, they are getting greedy on pricing and I feel you can do better for the price of the Arpege if you buy it new ( and do LOT better with other amps if the newer outrageously expensive Opera amplifier is considered). On the used market, the Arpege remains a good deal as resale market is usually pretty low (good for us, but bad for the original owner who bought it full retail- the only way to fly with Mutine). Well made, good-sound, no service. You decide. In all honesty, I did enjoy mine and it IS a good-sounding unit and a good looker too. I was wondering, is ANYONE paying FULL RETAIL for anything audio here as far as amps and preamps are concerned?
