Amp suggestion for Legacy Focus

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.

Stevemj, more like your ears are malfunctioning. Your being blissful again.

People that think amps or other components all sound the same are simply showing how nieve and inexperienced they are when it comes to trying out various pieces of gear. Sean
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