best budget integrated amp for rock n roll music?


considering:
--creek 4330
--cambridge audio a500
--audio analogue puccini
--audio refinement complete
--rega mira
i have B&W 302 speakers (small bookshelf type) and play cd's mostly. usually rock -- Dylan to Mission of Burma/Husker Du/Aerosmith -- some jazz and classical. opinions? other suggestions? thanks, ken
kbinner
My vote would go to the Creek assuming that you do not expect to rock the house down. I owned a 4240s2, the integrated before they came out with the 4330, that was used with a pair of Spica TC 50 speakers. I listen to quite a bit of acoustic and electric rock and found the combination to be very satisfying. It did not, however, blow you away by its ability to play loud. Within its limited range the Creek, IMHO, is the most musical integrated amplifier of the bunch.
Good Luck.
The Bryston B60 is a fine unit with a nice live feel and sells used for about $1,000 -- plus it has a 20 year transferrable warranty. I'd be careful about overextending it but it should work very well in mid-sized spaces with reasonably efficient speakers (probably true for most of the units mentioned). I've not heard them with B&W's though. Cheers.
Drop the Puccini (including SE version) from your list, it doesn't do a good job with rock. I compared the dual transformer(SE) version against an AR Complete, and found the Puccini's low end response to be loose and slightly blurred. The Complete, though, rocks with authority and conveys a mnusicality that simply draws you into the music. It is extremely well amde, has a great remote, and at $600-650 used is steal.

BTW, the Complete is something that you can continually upgrade the rest of your system around. I had the B&W 601 & 602 series2 speakers in my system for a while, and the Complete drove them with authority. Great bass, luscious mid's, and helped sweeten their occasionally shrill tweeters.

To put it in perspective, I am about to make the jump to a $10k+ system(new, actually $4.5k used) and the Complete is staying in my house. I'm just moving it to my office or bedroom.
Find a used Luxman LV-103u 200/300 on Ebay.Its killer for the price.
Also has a great Phono stage
The Luxman guy has it right. The LV-103u or even its big brother the LV-105u has massive amounts of reserve in the caps. Solid iron also. These units will crush the above listed and not even miss a step. Don't shy away from the tube front end. It is quick and stable. Good luck.