What to feed my Paradigm Studio speakers?

Thanks all for the responses. To answer a few questions... I have Studio 40s v.3 and a CC470 v.3 with dinky low-end paradigm cinema 90s for surrounds. They are all in a living room that opens up to the front door entrance area on the right with the dining room/kitchen as a decent sized open area behind the living room. So there are only walls nearby on the left and behind the TV.

I'm thinking of saving up no more than $1000 and prefereable much less to ease the wife-ranting. Anything amazing out there for $500?

Thanks for all the comments about "trusting my ears" but I really am without much direction so far. It's like telling a just recently literate person to go read books to find what they like when the only books they know of are the phonebook and "See Jane Run" (read, Denon and Paradigm for me). Some direction and suggestions help weed through the sheer volume out there. So thank you for the direction: Rotel, tube amp with linestage (going to go look up what a linestage is :s), Odyssey monoblocks. See, now I have something to actually find and listen to!

At the same time I know that many people only have experience with a couple systems they have owned and they will claim those are the "best" simply because they like them and don't know of anything better. So yes, grains of salt are handy :)

The only solid state amplifer under $500 I've heard Paradigms with that sounded nice was a Denon POA model amplifier(used $300 to $400). It will sound much better than the Denon reciever you're using now. You can use the reciever as a preamp until you decide on a seperate preamp. A tubed preamp will help. A tubed amplifier will help even more! The only one I've heard on Paradigms was a Carey v12..probably the best of all amplfiers listed here.

The Rotel amplifiers sound decent,The Odyssey Stratos and Denon were the best of the 5 solid states listed too my ears. Stay away from Adcom and Bryston unless you like hard highs, fatiguing ,dry and forward sound(just not good matches IMHO). A Class D amplifier could be another very good option for less money. Ultimately you must find out for yourself.

Have fun

There's Esoteric audio in Scottsdale, Jerrys audio-video ( PHX ), Celestial audio/video ( PHX ) and few more check them out. About the amp for around $500 it can't go wrong with a Conrad Johnson Sonographe SA-250 very good from top to bottom freq. Cheers.

I had the Studio 40 v.3 series for about two years before I sold them. At first I used a NAD 7175PE receiver. It was a fairly good match. I later used a Musical Fidelity a3.2 integrated. The warmer NAD was a good match for the Paradigm, which to my ears seemed rather bright and forward. The Paradigm's are fairly efficient, the Studio 40's being 91db into 8ohm. Since you "don't have loads of money" and are looking for a "2 channel amp" I would suggest you audition a NAD c162/ c272 pre-power set up. If your room size is not too big the c352 integrated may be the answer.
As to the "feeling like Denon, Paradigm, B&W just screan 'I wish I was an audiophile'", find what is pleasing to your ear in accordance with your budget and relax and enjoy.

My Studio 100's sound great bi-wired to a pair of Dynaco Mk.IV amps fed by a VanAlstine Trancendence 8 preamp. http://www.avahifi.com/ has a new integrated amp that you may find interesting.