best sounding integrated for under 2500.00

atoll 200.creek destiny. musical fidelity a5. plinius 9200 has come up alot. which would be better sounding and reliable for psb stratus golds.

Simaudio Moon i3.3

Vikingnick, IMO, you should seriously consider the Atoll pre/amp option. Think of it as a 2-piece high current integrated amp, which has 124000 mf capacitance and 1000 VA power transformer. Now, can you get something like that for $2200?
I highly doubt that.

Creek is nice I had one, it blew up.. took MONTHS to get fixed because it's made in China and Creek UK (forget Music Hall) had to wait to get the parts needed from China to fix it.. That's only one data point but I sold it shortly after and replaced it with a Rega Elicit. The Rega won't really drive your PSB's, it's only 80 wpc. Atoll is very nice but no resale value, if that's ok then consider it. The Plinius, and again I had one for almost 7 years and never a hiccup, has got all the power you'll need (200 wpc) and is sonically outstanding, tons of great reviwes and has been a TAS editors choice in it's price range numerous times. Plinius has after almost eight years come out with a replacement for the 9200 (Hautonga) so there are a few good buys on used 9200's, fyi the 9200 really haven't changed much but the later versions did add a balanced input. Seems that 9200's get snapped up pretty quick on the 'Gon so if that's the direction you want to go you'll need to keep your eyes open. Oh and Musical Fidelity, I haven't owned one but they have always gotten good press and are certainly a worthy product.

I just re-read this question, and since it does not ask in regard to what speakers, just best sounding integrated under $2500, I'm voting for the Cary SLI-80 again. Great sounding integrated with 80/w, and great to look at, great re-sale.

I'm voting again, you know, like a Chicago election.