Beginner choosing amp help

Thanks for all of the advice so far! That Luxman does look nice especially at that deal and purchasing a separate dac isn’t a deal breaker for me. Might be a good thing given the fact that to me that would be probably be the one component that might be outdated in 5-7 years. My only concern with it as sameeyers1 suggested is the power on it and how about hooking up a sub? I spoke with the dealer and he mentioned they also sell Parasoundhint6 but that the Luxman in his opionion is better quality and delivers better performance due to the capacitator being bigger then on the hint6. The Hegel does look like a beast to say the least also. How about the Belles Soloist? No one seemed to mention anything about that. 

Check out the moon ace. 50 watt amp, good phonostage and built in dac and streaming capability for tidal etc. Best wishes.

Greetings TBS!
   I’m a fellow newbie to high end audio, at least by today’s standards. I totally relate to your dilemma!
  I spent countless hours researching and checking out Amps before I settled on what I have. In the end I went with separates instead of an integrated set up.
   I bought the Parasound Halo A21 Amp and the P5 PreAmp and I couldn’t be happier. This set up fit my budget which was 3-4K and sounds really nice with a variety of music genres. I listen to a lot of live Grateful Dead music, classic rock, funk, heavy metal.. my musical tastes are all over the map and the Parasound does well. Across the board.
   In the end the most important thing is how it sounds to you, technical specs, reviews, opinions etc are great but you’ve gotta like the sound. What you love may sound like holy hell to the next person.  Happy Hunting!!

  

I liked the Parasound Halo A21 Amp and P5 Pre-Amp as well.  However, I thought their integrated sounded great too.  I couldn't hear much difference between the integrated and the separates.  I wish I could have afforded both a surround receiver and a 2 channel amplifier when I started out.  

tbs, I would respectfully disagree with several of the recommendations involving 50 watt/ch amps.  Your speakers need more power as I explained in my previous post, even if you use a sub (which will reduce the power reqd. by the bass drivers in your MLs).  Also, while there is merit to moving your way up the quality spectrum in increments, I would suggest that you use your budget to define what you buy.  Why go through three tiers of equipment, if you can afford something you perceive to be better right now?  You will never get back all the dough you spend on the intermediate gear.  I have had the same power amp speakers for more time than most would keep their equipment and have never been disappointed about having spent what I could afford back then.  Besides comparable products to what I purchased would today cost two to three times what I spent.  

Also, there is no right answer to the question of separate components vs. an integrated amp with DAC.  One argument is that with separates you can chose the best of each component.  The argument for an integrated unit is that you'll likely spend less, and the better manufacturers do an excellent job of matching their pre-amp sections to their amps, etc.  And there are technical arguments for both separate pieces (e.g. separate, better power supplies) and integrateds (e.g. shorter signal path).   But the bottom line is to simply take stuff home and listen to it in your room on your speakers.  Enjoy the shopping experience.

P.S.   Buy cables that are consistent in quality with the rest of your equipment.