Thanks for the response. I'm having issues with my wife, that's all. I'm a former tube owner and that was the first compromise I made with her. I was curious if there may be a good way to simplify the system w/o giving up too much, never having experimented with an integrated amp. Actually, the point about the source components is absolutely correct. And that is where my attention will be. I've been looking at a VPI Aries TT, but not sure where to go with a cd player/transport/dac???