Hey Bombay! Yah-got in touch with your buddy about the SET40i- thanks. Have decided it's not going to be a contender- no cover for the amp, and new baby will be crawling soon... That EvoIIiGenII integrated sold pretty fast the other day @ Underwood Wally's price of $1,890- wonder how good that piece is??
Jeffjarvis- any idea if Sugden has dealers in North America? They used to have a distributor up here in Canada- Plurison I believe, out of Montreal, but I don't think they carry the line anymore...
Greenman- I do think Ayre product is excellent, but I like tubes somewhere in the chain- getting off track for a second, perhaps my modded SF Line 3 preamp might stay in the 'A' system and would match up nicely with a V5Xe? I assume that combo would be a notch above the Ayre integrated?
Ellery- re: Bryston, as much as I wanted to like it, I could not warm up to it- and that was the latest 14BSST, even with my tube preamp...