Help me find my ideal Stereo Integrated Amp

@grislybutter - partly my reason for being here is to see what reasonable upgrade paths are and how to get more out of what i have. Also to see what’s available that has solid construction and reliability with decent performance. Im replacing most of my equipment and am not up to date on what is good now. Huge learning curve because i loved what i had before and most of that is no longer available. Modern day equivalents to what I had are hard to find. I cant assess equipment i cannot touch and hear, and bricks and mortar audio stores are scarce. It’s a quandry

Most of the forum is comprised of very well heeled buyers that punch way above my weight in purchasing power.

@livinon2wheels If you know where you want to be and you invest the time, you will get there.

It sounds like you know what you are doing - I don’t, I keep changing my system, I keep shrinking my budget by buying high and selling low and the sound is getting worse. But hopefully I learn something and it will get better

Most of the forum is comprised of very well heeled buyers that punch way above my weight in purchasing power.

I think a lot of people here have been very successful and are retired and have a lot of time and money to spend and are one or two zeros ahead of me. But it's not a competition, it's just as easy to make improvements to my simple system from 2 zeros less as it is for very high end systems.

I'm not "well heeled" but I like to spend money on tangible things that give me years, sometimes decades of enjoyment.  I'm not one to hop on a plane and go somewhere , I would rather have something lasting.   Can't think of anything better than something like a MA9000 or 12000.  Those are great amps.   A little beyond my means but worth it if you can afford it. 

I buy used and new if I can and will almost always be selling what's displaced.   I'd rather save for a year or two than compromise.   I will usually stretch my budget to avoid buyer's remorse .  Buyer's remorse is almost always due to lateral moves.   If you avoid those you save in the end from not constantly rotating gear.