@mlimpression
General rule of thumb is the front stage (3 speakers in your case) should make up at least 50% of your budget. So contrary to @n80, yes you do want $10,000 speakers+sub on a $15K budget. What amp/preamp you get is minutely important relative to what speakers, sub(s), and room treatment you get.
All your power amplification needs to do is supply enough wattage, at low enough distortion, and be (in my opinion) relatively neutral.
Unless you need high spouse approval, don’t get a MartinLogan subwoofer; get one from say Rythmik or PowerSoundAudio. Also, going dual provides a lot of room benefits, 2x $1500 subs sounds a lot better than 1x $3000 sub.
Have you given any thoughts on room treatment? Room treatment makes a vastly more beneficial upgrade in sonics than even the most expensive amplifier in world would achieve.
I firmly stand my suggestion of something like the Denon X3500 mentioned; which again you can hook up external power amps in the future if you ever want to see if they have a good enough benefit to be worth it.
General rule of thumb is the front stage (3 speakers in your case) should make up at least 50% of your budget. So contrary to @n80, yes you do want $10,000 speakers+sub on a $15K budget. What amp/preamp you get is minutely important relative to what speakers, sub(s), and room treatment you get.
All your power amplification needs to do is supply enough wattage, at low enough distortion, and be (in my opinion) relatively neutral.
Unless you need high spouse approval, don’t get a MartinLogan subwoofer; get one from say Rythmik or PowerSoundAudio. Also, going dual provides a lot of room benefits, 2x $1500 subs sounds a lot better than 1x $3000 sub.
Have you given any thoughts on room treatment? Room treatment makes a vastly more beneficial upgrade in sonics than even the most expensive amplifier in world would achieve.
I firmly stand my suggestion of something like the Denon X3500 mentioned; which again you can hook up external power amps in the future if you ever want to see if they have a good enough benefit to be worth it.