I know nothing : Budget Under $1k

"10-13-15: Bob_reynolds
do you have any idea how big of an upgrade a new amp will make, not only for power, but sound quality? This will be a major upgrade that can be heard immediately.
Nope. And neither do you. As you like to say, you're just guessing."

My name isn't Bob Reynolds. I don't get my listening skills from reading magazine reviews. I always talk from experience. I was a dealer for both of those brands. If you can't hear a difference going from a cheap mass market receiver to a much more powerful 2 channel amp with better sound quality, you need to find a new hobby. A dog would be able to hear a difference, it will be so large.

Regardless, your posts always defy logic. Lets have another look at your genius recommendation.

"Integra makes a fine product and there's no reason to assume that running a 7.1 speaker system with a high quality 7.1 receiver will cause a problem. Much wiser to wait, listen and then decide to make a change."

OK, so he takes the wise approach and listens for a while. Now what? He can listen to his current set up all he wants, but there's no way to tell what an upgrade will sound like until puts the amp in his system.

Hi there,
If you're looking for 2-ch with most bang for the buck we suggest getting the most Odyssey that you can afford. They are sold direct from the Indiana factory so there is no dealer markup. As a result they are like half the price you would expect for how good they sound (extremely) and how well they are built (tank). Their power amps are solid state. Their business model is that they use designs from a very high end German amp mfr. called Symphonic Sound.

We have their monoblocks in our system and have used them at stereo shows. No affiliation at all. Just respect.

You can find Odyssey power amps used on A'gon and Ebay as well. If you go new, you'll have the pleasure of dealing with the colorful owner, Klaus, and you should inquire about delivery time as they can get very busy.
Cheers.

thanks for the comments. Unfortunately amps are hard to switch in and out of your system, without buying and reselling to see the impact and there is no easy formula I can find to give me a speaker threshold (correct me if I am wrong (and I did say easy way)).

most likely I will give it a go with the receiver first, but a purchase would be somewhat blind. I don't know how I would listen to the amps in a store without my save receiver and load from the speakers in my setup.

Again I know nothing about electronics so largely I am going on comments from others to possible impact/benefit of a separate component.