Parasound A21 vs Bryston 4bsst 2

"The amp is just easier...determine how much I want to spend and find something that has adequate power that doesn't distract from the music."

"my priorities are soundstaging, imaging(front to back placement), and as close to neutral as possible without brightness."

This is kind of what I was talking about. The amp plays a pretty big role in bringing forth those qualities. While Parasound and Bryston are both great products, I don't think they are particularly good in those areas. I'm not saying they're bad, just average. If you are willing to consider amps other than the 2 we're talking about here, I would look at Ayre, Theta, BAT and Pass. They all make SS amps that do a much better job of going beyond adequate power and deliver a higher level of SQ. Its just something to think about. I've heard Aerials many times with Pass and thought it was a great combo.

The pre-with-a-dac category is fairly new I think, Wyred 4 Sound makes the mPre, and I think Peachtree Audio offers something, but they don't have a lot of inputs.

"Name a great amp that can be had for the same price of the A21."

You can probably find a Pass Aleph, older BAT SS and maybe an Ayre V-3 in your price range.

Zd542,
I think you need to compare the A21 with Pass Aleph while driving the Aerial 7T. The Pass would probably do great with high sensitivity speakers, but might not sound good with the Aerials. Ricred1's room is also not a small one, so the Pass would not help there either.
One thing is - the A21 does not loose it's value as much. So Ricred1 could always sell the amp if he wants to upgrade. For now I think he has made the right choice. My only suggestion, based on personal experience would be, to go with a preamp that has XLR outs. It may have been my TVC, but my A21 is in a different league when used with the TVC connected through XLR Vs the RCA.