Budget integrated amp?

MF M2si.

I'm in the Yamaha camp. Loved the Yamaha integrated amps I've owned. Probably also the easiest to get given the friends location.

Aloha, I live on the Big Island and am much more familiar with the realities of owning electronics in this environment than most. The combination of heat, humidity, volcanic emissions and salt are not like anything anywhere on the mainland. Thing corrode and fail here that would never have those issues in other areas. For that reason alone I would avoid the smaller esoteric brands. They simply lack the resources to design and test in these extremes, and in addition, service, if needed means shipping to the mainland - a couple hundred dollars anyway. That all said, I would put my money on a Marantz. A PM7000N, which is a 60/90 W/ch streaming amp with superior build quality and a full feature set, including phono, analog, digital, Ethernet and WiFi, as well as bass management for proper subwoofer setup. This is available for under $1000 from Crutchfield or Amazon, so you  anavoid the hefty freight bill. Sound Quality wise, Marantz is one of the few mainstream companies who tunes their gear by ear, selecting compnents for sound quality. Marantz house sound is slightly warm, with solid bass, good dynamics and a notable lack of midrange and high end harshness.  Or, read the reviews from Absolute Sound or What HIFi or any of the othe magazines who listened to it and awarded it top honors. I know your friend has a streamer already, he can keep it or compare it to the Marantz and sell it to offset the other costs. My second choice would be the NAD 368. It has a bit more power, but lacks a few other features..

You don't mention what speakers he'll be driving, but either will drive al.ost anything on the market, maybe not quite as loud .like 2-3 dB less) as a 100-200 w amp.

I can’t explain nor will I denigrate the Yamaha nay sayers but Yamaha makes some of the finest musical instruments and audio gear on the planet. Which is amazing considering they make other gear like motorcycles. Which btw have the tuning fork logo on them.

I have a Yamaha RX A3080 AVR that is by no means a great example compared to some of their 2 channel offerings, that shares my main speakers with my 2 channel rig. I listen to the onboard streaming and DAC for background / casual listening and I am often surprised at how good it sounds compared to my 2 channel integrated at 10 times the price.

@akg_ca   +1