mid fi choices NAD vs Adcom vs Rotel ... $400

I have had all three and found them all to be quite amazing at their respective price points. If I had to rate them, however, I would go with 1)Rotel 2)NAD 3)Adcom.

Hey Five.

Some questions:
> What speakers will you be driving?
> What Ohm rating is your speakers?
> What are the recommended power/watts for your speakers?

The lower the wattage you need to drive your speakers efficiently, the less expensive the amp.

I.Q. TED 400's from Germany. they aren't well known. there is a test comparison from a German mag in the 90's with graphs and charts on the speakers, but i don't know what they mean. Can the performance graphs be used to assess what amp would be best?

I would put Adcom at the bottom of the list and NAD or Cambridge Audio Azur at the top

Steven, a few months ago a friend of mine bought a used Marantz PM 7001 KI at a local shop for EUR 300 and is over the moon driving a pair of ALR bookshelf speakers with it that must be close to 20y old. The offer looked quite exceptional for a KI version that can be situated in the NAD C372 / Rotel RA-06 league. The Marantz sounds slightly "warmish". Hooked up on my own LUA floorstanding speakers it showed a very good three-dimensionality (that collapsed with my friend's bookshelf speakers as could be expected). Just an idea to complement the other names you mentioned.