Old Amp vs. New Amp

I have been pretty happy with the NAD C375BEE.  I think it is a very good integrated for it's price range.  I don't really have much to compare it to though.  I recently purchased a Parasound P5 pre-amp and it seems to do very nicely.  Now I'm looking for a good amp to pair it with.

So I guess what I'm pondering is...  If I spend $3000-$5000 on an amp, am I better off with a new amp in that price range, or an older amp.  Given that a 3k-5k older amp may have originally sold for about 6k-12k, it seems like the older amp may be the better choice.

As for cables, I'm not completely sold on that yet.  While I do  believe that quality cables suitable for the amount of current being applied is a must, I think that the thought of spending $1000, $5000, etc for a cable is ridiculous and most likely way overpriced and over hyped.

I would venture to guess that the used $5k amp would even surpass the P5 in capability and you would be set for a long while with the amp.

A cable conversation could take your whole life to read the history. There are some inexpensive ones that work great for many of us, but I'd suggest discussing that in another thread or by first looking at cables in some posted systems you like. Cheers,
Spencer

I should probably qualify my cable comments.  Personally I'd never spend $1000 for a cable.  I currently have 2 pairs of IC's that cost about $300 for both.  My Wireworld speaker cables cost about the same.  These both brought improved sonics for me and I'm happy there.  

As far as amps go, I'd concur that you could get more value in a used one while not losing out on sound quality.  Amps are a mature technology and as long as you get a well built one, I'd suggest you'd be fine.  

The Parasound gear I have has a slightly warm sound, with the top end probably rolled off a little, and I suspect the P5 might have the same characteristics.  I've read that the Nad's sound is similar, so when amp shopping, you may want to avoid amps with a warm sound, and go for neutral or forward sounding instead.  Unless of course you prefer a warmer sound.

That's pretty much what I was thinking on the older amps.  I feel like I would get a better amp for the same money.  As for my P5, I could end up wanting to upgrade that later, but for now, I feel like that is going to be a very good pre for the money.

I agree with your thoughts on the cables.  I think the moderately priced cables are the way to go.  Although I think they are also pretty overpriced.  But I think cables particularly speaker and power cables need to fit the application.  For example, I don't think you would want to use the same cables for a 50wpc amp into bookshelf speakers as you would pushing 1000wpc into giant speakers.

some newer amps have newer circuit designs - e.g. for SS, the rise of MOSFETs (some time ago); Class D (nad M22 and others) and the Benchmark (one of the newest designs I've seen)

for tubes, ARC continues to refine their sound & maybe others have too

whatever you have now, I'd buy something I could listen to for 2 to 4 weeks and return 

start working on a list of test music now

your amp exists to drive your speakers - what are they?  and what is their impedance vs. freq. curve like??