Amp suggestion for Legacy Focus

Sean,
I was wondering about that. It seems there are two schools of thought regarding which way to go on up-grading components, front to back or back to front in the signal chain. As Jmcgrogan2 says, the focus can be a little strong on the top end and I would like to match accordingly. If I can go from the speakers back I would really like to. I like the amps I mentioned and would like to match my upgraded equipment to them, if that's possible! What do you think? Thanks.

Since an amp / preamp "should" simply amplify what is fed into them, it is important to find a source that gives you what you want in terms of sonics in the first place. If the source is "junk" to begin with, you are kind of "forced" to band aid it all the way down the line whether you want to or not. At the same time, i am a firm believer that a system is only as good as its' weakest link. This means building a balanced system and not concentrating on any ONE specific component. You might be surprised at what finding the "right" combo of components can do, regardless of price or "name brand". I would highly recommend starting with the source and working backwards. With that in mind, i think that the Classe and newer Bryston pieces offer somewhat similar sonics. I've owned both and don't think that either would mate real well with Legacy's. Keep in mind that this is MY PERSONAL OPINION ONLY, so don't take my word on it. For the record, my Father owns "Classic's" for mains and uses "Studio's" for center and surrounds, so i know what to expect out of their products and am not just talking "out of my hat". When i brought over one of my Classe' amps to his house, my Father absolutely HATED it when mated to his speakers. I would tend to agree that it was a poor match IN THAT SYSTEM. I am not familiar with the Rowland stuff first hand and if the Marsh amps sound like the solid state preamps, they are definetly on the warm and full sounding side with good depth to the soundstage. You might want to CAREFULLY listen to the treble on the Marsh though and see if it is to your liking. Out of curiosity, you did not mention a digital source. Do you have or use one or still looking ? Sean
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PS.... Does this mean that i'll get negative votes from all of the Classe' and Bryston owners ?????

I do have a digital source, it's also the Yamaha CDX1000U model. I will be upgrading this also at a later date, or maybe sooner. You definitely have my attention on upgrading the sources first. I'm going to give the upgrading the source first more research. Would like to know what your father has matched with his Classic's, and do you like the sound of that match? I know alot of people aren't quite fond of the Focus sound, but my wife and I do enjoy our Legacy's. I'm also thinking that matching a tube pre-amp with the SS amp will smooth out the top end a little (mellow out the brightness some). I don't want to get too warm of a SS amp that I lose too much of the detail. Does this make sense? Sean, Thanks for the suggestions.

My Father started out with a Counterpoint tube preamp driving an Adcom 5800 for 2 channel use. To supplement this for HT use, he has an Adcom GSP-560 "surround processor" with its own 3 channel amps for the center and surrounds. Front end was and still is a $1K Denon CD player, Magnum Dynalab's 101 Tuner, and a 3 head cassette deck, etc... Video is supplied by a Pioneer Laser Disc player and now a Philips DVD player. He does not use vinyl, so no TT. Since i thought that this sounded like crap, I have since "manipulated" him to unload the Adcom power amp and i replaced it with a Sunfire amp. As a matter of convenience, space and sonics, the 2 channel Sunfire along with his tubed Counterpoint preamp and the GSP-560 will be "going the way of the wind" pretty soon. I'm working on a new set up for him as i type this. It will consist of a modified AGI 511A preamp, an outboard surround processor and a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 channel power amp. I have tried about a half dozen preamps and power amps in his system and this combo seems to work quite well. It also has some special attributes that work to his advantage in terms of personal tastes and set-up. Speaker wires are currently Audioquest for the top end ( to soften the sound somewhat) and heavy Monster on the bottom. We'll be changing that too once he's all settled in. He'll be moving in June, so we're going to wait until then to see what lengths we'll need. Probably either some Kimber 8TC or Goertz MI-2 for the top and some cable of my construction for the bottom end. Keep in mind that not ALL tube pieces are smooth and soft. Concentrate more on "system synergy" instead of concentrating on a "pre-conceived notion" as to what you think will work best. Your ears will tell you what is good and what isn't. Sean
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You want an amp that does not interact with your speakers. This mean a high damping factor. You want a flat frequency response and high enough power to not clip - probably a couple of hundred watts a side. Distortion doesn't seem to be very important or people wouldn't like tube amps. Of course this description includes everything from an old Phase Linear you could get for a few hundred bucks to multi-thousand dollar amps. If two amps really sound different then at least one of them is malfunctioning.