Having seen both the WW Electra 7 and AQ Thunder mentioned here, if you can find a Thunder used close to your budget, go for it. I just obtained a Thunder a week ago and installed it on my preamp replacing a WW Electra 7. Major difference and improvement over what is a very good Electra. For an amp, you may also want to consider either a PS-Audio AC-10 or AC-12. Those are available on the used market at pretty good prices. I use the lower level AC-5 on my Parasound amp and it does an admirable job. I tried the Electra on my amp, but thinner and less bass. My AC-5 is clearly the better match there. Hope that helps.