Integrated vs. Separates on a Budget

BTW - You guys are AWESOME!

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I prefer known highly rated and reviewed products… used VAC, Rogue, PrimaLuna. Unfortunately used Audio Research just does not come down to $3K.

Personally, I would view the "not all watts are equal" mantra with caution. 

I'd bet against a 20wpc tube integrated working as well as 100 watts solid state (or tube, for that matter) for your 91db speakers, all else equal.  In fact, I wouldn't go near 20 watts for your speakers, no matter how "unequal" they were claimed to be (complications noted by ghdprentice noted).

That said, there are tube amps with more juice in your budget.  Rogue has already been mentioned, and gets great press. I just bought a 60 wpc Jolida/Black Ice used here that sounds lovely, and something like that could be had for way under your budget (see Walter at Underwood for these).

But my sense is many of the tube amps will not have all the functionality you want.  If you are willing to consider a "just an amp" (an approach I'm attracted to), I'd throw Pass SS stuff in the mix with the toobers.

IMHO integrated amps are the way to go regardless of budget unless for some reason you need dual mono blocks for power or some other reason. 

Otherwise, the simplicity in terms of cabling and the distortion introduced by the interconnect between the preamp and amp is not worth it, not to mention the space and cost saving of having fewer boxes.

It seems most all high end amp makers offer integrated amps of exceptional quality.

Phono stage is another issue. For some reason, the amp manufacturers are not emphasizing that if offering it at all, especially for a MC option. Definitely get a separate phono stage if you can afford it and care about vinyl.

Seems to me that there are many more integrated amplifiers with built in DACs than phonostages. Since you are going to try out the Mani (which I believe would be a good mate to your TT) and are considering the purchase of the Node which has an onboard DAC, I believe you should look into a line level integrated lacking a phonostage or DAC. Thus focusing your money on amplifcation.