New SS integrated choice....Rotel 1572Mk2, Audiolab 7000A, Exposure 2510

The BB store idea is one I hadn't thought of. The last time I was in the store they were blasting some Mac amp with cheap speakers. But, who knows its only about 45 minutes from my place and I need to go to town anyway. Will have to read about the amp. I actually owned a Technics receiver decades ago and it wasn't bad. The Hegel review is interesting too though I havent heard their gear  in awhile. But I think Overture in DE carries them and my in laws live near there so I will be there in Q4. Longer than I was planning to get an amp but it would enable  me to hear stuff and buy up too. In the interim I'll check out Gene Rubin. Thx for all input.

I have two Rotel items bought with good discounts:

Michi X3 series 1 - (I use an external dac) awesome tonality power control and drive

1590 MKII - preamp, very nice clean sound used with thrills to supply a pair of large PMC MB2SE via an Audio Research D240 MKII power amp

Current Rotel offerings like these are quite fulfilling.

I'd 2nd the suggestion of the Technics.  They seem to get glowing reviews and they look great, to boot.  

I have the predecessor to the Rotel 1572, the 1570 that I bought as a stop-gap when I sold my McIntosh integrated.  I bought it used, locally and I actually preferred it's sound to the McIntosh.  It really does everything well.....except for having meters!   

I have a Sugden A21 (class A) which is superb and has a MM phono stage---I'd say it's pretty close or equal to the Exposure. IMO, you can go wrong with British audio equipment. That being said, I also have a Belles Aria integrated which is also an awesome piece. Haven't had any issues. May I ask what issues did you hear about?

The feedback I got was that the number of issues/failures on the Belles amps had risen materially in the last few years unlike ever before experience. This was stated by 2 different dealers OTR. Both said they were concerned about this and so while the line had good sound, given where I live and the concerns over reliability, they would suggest I try other brands. The fact it came up 2x concerned me. To be fair, in both conversations I directly questioned what brands were most reliable as well as sounding good and Belles was not the only one that came up. All mentions were about smaller manufacturers which frankly leads me to believe that its a QC issue in smaller shops. I was frankly discouraged because it was the one amp I had heard and really liked. I have spent hours researching other amps as a result and had found numerous reviews which helped generate the 3 I focused in on. Over the last day I have also read quite a bit about Musical Fidelity MS5i and am adding that to the list as well as the Hegel a member suggested. I was actually thinking last night maybe I would fly to the West Coast and hit a couple of dealers. But, it is sort of foolish to spend $3-5k to then buy a $3k item....unless I can somehow add in some other "must dos" and justify the whole thing. My wifes comment was just buy something higher priced  that ups the odds of being satisfied....i.e. spend the trip money on a new piece in say the $5-6k range. I may just go that way to get this whole thing done. I really just want to be able to enjoy my music not my gear.