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
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.
No question in my mind. The Cambridge audio integrated is good enough to run $15000.00 speakers within its 65 watt rating. I can live with this item happily if nothing else existed. And I really mean it.............Frank