Getting started, need amp recommendation

I second the NAD and Rotel recommendations and would like to add to the list Cambridge Audio A300 V2.0. It is a nice sounding 50wpc unit that is only $250.00 new. Also a used Creek would fit your budget nicely.

Good Luck!!!!

Save yourself! Run, hide under a rock, turn up the TV, do whatever you need to do to avoid setting toe one on this consuming primrose path! (You've been warned...). Otherwise, welcome to the loonie bin.

A real sleeper...Pioneer elite a35r intergrated with phono...around $150-200 new online...comes with phono...and has a nice warm sound that will work well with the Paradigms...which are a tad bright...also...if you like the minis...check out the studio 20s...a major upgrade for not much more...good luck...also...

Mezmo: that's just how I feel sometimes about this new 'hobby'. :)

I appreciate all the recommendations. There is a dearth of hi-fi gear close to home for me to audition, but I am near enough Ann Arbor and Detroit to have some options. The Cambridge and Creek models are something I hadn't stumbled across on a-gon yet. They look very interesting! As for tubes - hmm - I do intend to spend more time listening than tweaking no matter how much I know about electronics.

I'm going off topic on my own thread, but I noticed another post where someone was upgrading both CD and amp. One response got me to thinking - they said spend more on source, less on the amp. Am I going about this upgrade path in reverse order? My CD player is a circa 1990 Kenwood as well. I planned to replace that later rather than sooner.

Thanks!

Exp_gort, If you ever want to listen to the Vmps line of speakers, Today's Audio here in Flint has them.