Intergrated Amp with VR4jrs

Kck, you are correct, I DO NOT want the hassle of tubes. In fact I want to simplify even futher by going to an intergrated, that is why I posted my question and I want to keep the cost down to a few $Ks.

The Jeff Rowland Concentra (original version) can be had for less than $2,500. It's better than the Krell of MF you mention. A Krell 300 goes for slightly over $1,000 and some people have commented that its betters the 400 series in long term listening. Also, any of the various YBA integrated are excellent products.

The VR-4jr's do sound better with tubes. Pick up an Audio Refinement Complete. It will give you a little of the tube sound without tubes, its cheap, its more powerful than it claims.

Good luck!

I current own two 400xi for my two small rooms. I love the fast and tight sounds of the Krell for instruments and percussions. I love the sweet and soft midrange of the MF. I have gone tubes with Rogue monoblocks and its magnum pre but tubby sounds excitment last for abt only a few months. AR is still a better choice if you go tubes. CJ, Rogue are good products for the price but not quite "tube" sounds as AR. My next intergrated will be AR. Again, some listener loves colour added some doesn't.

The Jungson JA88D is worth considering. No tubes, but heavily biased into Class A (does run a bit hot). I generally prefer tubed components, and the Jungson is the only solid state amp I've owned that captures much of the dynamic, rich and spatious tube sound (also owned Plinius, Creek, Jolida hybrids, Bel Canto, LFD Mistral, Quad). At a used/demo price of around $1000, the Jungson is also a lot cheaper than most of the amps mentioned above.