Should I get a new amp?

Saki70: My listening room is 11Wx20Lx7.5H. The back end of the room, however, is open to the rest of my basement so there is no wall. THe speakers are positioned at the end WITH the wall behind them, firing down the long walls toward the open space. I sit about 7-8' off the speakers.

The speakers are only about 18" off the side walls and 12" off the back walls becuase there is a projection screen on the wall behind them. Acoustic panels are at the first reflections for my listening chair on walls and ceiling. Floor is low-profile carpet over concrete. The back of the room is wrapped by 3 microfiber couches which do a good job of high-frequency absorbtion in the back, but they are all behind my listening chair.

I listen to some classic rock, but probably more folk, acoustic, blues and jazz than anything. I have somewhat of an addiction for ultra smooth female vocals, regardless of genre. Not so much in the way of classical/orchestral.

I don't listen to them at ear-bleeding loud levels. I would say probably on average between 75-85db tops (not factoring in dynamic peaks).

Ok , try this get the Primaluna Prologue 2 advertised here for $950 . If you are still worried about the power thing you could also try some Speltz autoformers and zeros , again listed here for $450 . They should , if I understand them right , take care of the lower impedance dips . That would leave you with $100 for shipping and be with in your budget . The Prologue should be easy to sell if you don't like it . Don't know about the Speltz stuff .

Try bringing your speakers another 12 inches out from the wall behind them . If you loose some bass then put them back . Also try to put them on an equal lateral triangle ie. the same distance apart as the distance from your listening position . Toe them in so that , in your listening position , you can see equal amounts of the sides of each speaker . When mine were setup this way they had the best soundstage that I have ever witnessed . It actually seemed like some of the performers were behind the wall behind the speakers , some were outside the boundaries of the left and right speakers and some were at my feet . It all depended on the CD mixing and the accompaning equipment but not that hard to do just to see what happens .

It doesn't sound like that you need to run your system at high sound levels to enjoy your music .

But if it were me , I would just get the integrated and see what happens . If it doesn't work well then try your sub with it . If that doesn't work well either , you still will have gotten a taste of what tubes are like and can go from there . Just my 2 cents .

Good luck .

Thanks Saki70. My soundstaging is actually excellent already. Many well-mixed tracks do seemingly extend beyond both the side walls and the back wall. I do have them toed in and sit in an equilateral triangle, but I'm always open for moving around a bit...it's fun :-)

It's more the smooth mids and vocals that I crave with this upgrade than anything. And from the sound of it, the tubes do that better than SS which is what caught my attention.

FWIW, FatghOst, I tend to agree with Saki's recommendation regarding the Primaluna stuff. But, as I think you already know, the actual sound you get is very dependent on tube selection, both power and small tubes. While that can be a small PITA its much better than trying to find a SS unit that would sound 'smoother'. But with the wrong synergy, or tube selection, tube amps can sound 'bright'. Its very managable using inexpensive new production tubes, fortunately.

FatghOst, tube rolling is trying different manufacturers' (EI, Sovtek, JJ Tesla, etc)version of the same tube (EL34, KT88, etc). There is also the search for NOS (New Old Stock) which are tubes made long ago and no longer in production. Many feel they sound much better than current tubes - I have no idea why, may QC was better, maybe the use of radioactive parts no longer permitted, - but this path can get very expensive - some NOS brands - Mullard, Amperex, Telefunken, Siemens, RCA, Sylvania. Typicall NOS tube rolling start in earnest when you are committed to tubes and are try to eake out the last nth degree of performance - it can be a slippery road if you do not know what you are doing, and even if you do.