McCormack , Aragon or Forte

Depending on the size of your room I say go for a McCormack DNA .5 Deluxe. I preferred the McCormack DNA .5 Deluxe to the DNA 1 Deluxe with my KEF 104/2 speakers in my audio room which is on the smaller side. I felt the DNA 1 Deluxe had a lot of bloom but was a bit too forward while the DNA .5 Deluxe was just right.

I find the McCormack and Forte amps to be very good amps on their own, with that said they are also very good values. Though not bad products, the Aragon amps always seemed like "tweeners"; perhaps superior to entry level but unlike the other considerations, not quite getting close enough to compare to true high end amps. For your application I think the McCormack might be the slightly preferred choice.

I had a McCormack pre amp - ALD Delux with phono, very nice. I used cables from MIT, Bluejeans, Cardas, Tara Labs and Kimber. All worked well, bluejeancables.com were cheapest.

If you go McCormack I highly recommend holding out for a Rev. A version as you get a much better amplifier and the upgrades are discounted heavily when buying used so that they're not all that much more expensive than Deluxe. Best of luck.

I'd copy Jedinite24's suggestions although all here are on the mark. I liked my time with McCormack on the Way Back Machine, and I really enjoyed my Forte 4s.