@pokey77
Don’t look!! stay out of the big room!!! Always.
Did I hear you say the haegel monos were akin to the sound of older Levinson amps?
Although I’ve heard the Levinson amps sound very nice, they’ve always seemed to polite to my ears. I like the older Krell AB amps better…. Almost. Krell can be a bit strident up top depending on the upstream gear and accessories.
I had a KAV 250 with a Sony ES HT receiver as preamp, and some BW and Monitor audio Gold series speakers until I sprang for the KAV preamp. It sure calmed the Krell amp way down to a more civilized presentation. This was prior to my being convinced wires do matter. .
Another pr of Phase Technology speakers came on board, then another pair but those were Floor standers. Tuff 2ohm loads. BAT vk500 replaced the Krell. VR4 JRs evicted the monitor Audios.
The Thor MK II pre and Dodd monos chased the BAT vk5 & VK500, and a pair of Silverline Sonata IIIs took over the speaker duties.
Its tuff for me to stray far from where I feel the sound actually occurs. At the source and within the amp (s). its where I default to put the largest part of the investment. Thereafter, the better I can manage with speakers, the better things ‘should’ be.
I’d always rather have more ahead of the speakers than in the speakers themselves, ‘if’ I have to choose how to split up the funds.