Probably not totally relevant to this thread, but I just bought the Jungson 88C (budget 80W, class AB integrated) used (on Audiogon of course). It was interesting for me to read the link to the review that Maxx posted on the more expensive gear, as the 88C exhibits the same kind of behaviour with the volume control as its more expensive brethren in the lineup. I have never had the volume control past about 18-20 for serious listening, but there is a point at which going one notch further seems to harden the sound up noticeably. I think this is a characteristic with most gear, but it was noticeable immediately with the Jungson; it would be nice if there was a little less gain delivered between "notches" on the volume control as you get higher up on the volume scale.
That, however, is a pretty minor quibble and I can tell you that I am thrilled with this amp. It replaced an older Audiolab 8000A which I bought used for about $400 Cnd. in 1990 or so. The Audiolab had been modified a bit (Vampire RCA's, Cardas jacks, extensive damping of the chassis) and sounded considerably better than it did stock and was pretty highly thought of in the budget integrated category for a long time (it retailed around $900-$1000 Cnd. in the early to mid 90's). I paid $300 U.S. (about $380 Cnd.) for the Jungson expecting it would be kind of a sideways move sonically but I'm getting old and lazy and really wanted a remote. The 88C is miles ahead of the Audiolab in terms of digging into the recording, transparency, smoothness, bass control, etc. etc. I can literally hear stuff on many recordings that was not there with the Audiolab and the overall presentation is much more refined and less aggressive. The 88C, however, will not make poor recordings sound good; certain (particularly pop-fortunately I don't listen to much of it) recordings which sounded hard and aggresive on the Audiolab sound even worse with the Jungson, but well recorded material sounds significantly better.
Unless there are reliability issues (and I would doubt it based on how the stuff appears to be built-it is gorgeous and appears to be of extremely high quality), this stuff is an absolute bargain. I have always been a "value for money" audiophile; I'm not particularly interested in paying 2 or 3 times as much for what I consider to be limited performance gains, so the Jungson stuff is pretty appealing to me. I know that Maxx had an e-mail from the previous owner of the 88c that I now have who felt the amp might be a little weak dynamically (he ended up upgrading to the class A 88D) but I honestly don't hear that. I'm a very happy guy.
