step up from rotel?

I recently upgraded from my Rotel RB-1092 and RC-1082. I spent 8 months auditioning various makes, and as mentioned above, Rotel is a good bang for the buck component. I listened to Krell, Bryston, Classe, W4S, Edge, Bel Canto and finally settled on McIntosh (C2200 pre and MC252amp). I had to spend substantially more than my inital Rotel costs to improve on the sonics. My Rotel eqipment retailed for $3800 and the McIntosh retailed for $9900. I bought the preamp used so my real out-of pocket after deducting what I got for my Rotel equipment was $5300. My point is it will be hard to upgrade for $1000.

My rotel is a rb980 not 1080. So a belles 150 hot rod wouldn't be much of a upgrade? There was a ayre v3 for 1250 wouldn't that be a substantial upgrade? There are numerous tube amp for a 1000 or less

Different is not necessarily better.

Invest the grand in a money market to get it out of your hot little hands and wait for the new space.

nobody's pockets are deep enough to change gear THAT often. Or at least non that I actually know.

I don't follow, I was giving examples not saying I was going to buy all of those amps. As far as hot little hands I am still saving up and am researching at the moment. Is that clear?

I am taking your advice and waiting on my new space, but in the mean time just researching. The other reason I mentioed belles is I had a hot rod 150 at one time but didn't have this setup and can't recall how it was different from the rotel. To be quite honest I didn't think a power amp effected the sound as much as from what I have been reading. If I came off as being short in my above post forgive me had a emergency root canal this morning.Scott