Power Amp for newbie

A Classe CA100 would work well and often available for $650 -$800 used .

My dealer gave me Kimber 4PR when I bought my CD player. Since I have no $$ invested there, I'm open to change in that arena if the experienced ears have suggestions. I live in the boonies, so auditioning requires significant pre-planning.

You cannot go wrong with Acurus gear,but,personally I'd save up a little longer and wait for a deal on an Aragon 8002 or 8008. The slight increase in price rewards you with a significant increase in overall quality. My first amp was an Acurus, than an Aragon, and now a Krell. At the time I first got into audio there was no real marketplace for used equipment. So I had to be subject to paying retail as I moved my way up. Take advantage of this website and skip the Acurus. The natural progression seems to be an Aragon next anyway. If I could do it again I'd go for the Aragon first!

Quite apart from brands and price points, I'd advise you to at least look into the possibility of monoblock power amps. I used conventional stereo amps for decades, some very good ones included, but after trying a couple kinds of monoblocks I'll never use anything else. My speaker cable length came down from 7' to 18", and the improvement was enormous! I'm now using a pair of Pass Aleph 3's, which gets about $2000 at used prices, but cheaper monoblocks can be had.

Either stick with the ACURUS setup and get the power amp to match the rest of the system.Or go for ARAGON or SONOGRAPHE which is made by Conrad Johnson.