Buy new integrated or vintage?

I sent back a Yamaha A S700 which I was less than impressed with. It seemed like a step backwards from my 30 year old Sony ES. I also sent back the Onkyo a-9555 which I was very dissapointed with, given all the reviews and hype generated by this amp. I would have chosen the Yamaha over the Onkyo easily. In defense of the Onkyo, it was an inexpensive amp, I took the chance, foolishly fooled by all the hoopla!

The Anthem looks interesting, certainly has the look of a well made unit. Thanks for the tip.

Smitty

Smitty - Anthems punch well above their weight class. One system in our home is a hybrid 2-channel/HT. The Anthem Statement A5 amplifier does double duty, and it is more than good enough to not be sonically embarrassed by the 2-channel gear, which consists of an ARC Ref-3, ARC PH7, Well Tempered Amadeus, McIntosh MCD500, Verity Fidelio Encores, and a Rel B2. When I first set this system up, I initially thought that the Anthem would not be able to hold its own with the other higher priced gear. But after a couple of months of listening, I realized that the A5, just like the Anthem 225, is another example of great sonic value. And Anthem (Sonic Frontiers) provides great customer service.

There is an NAD C375BEE on Agon right now for under a grand. This is plenty "beefy" with a conservative 150W per channel into 8ohms. A very nice sounding amp at this price. Sophistication of design far exceeds most of the big name solid state stuff from the 70's.

Other nice options at or below $1K:

Musical Fidelity A-1 class
Cambridge Audio 840A v2
Blue Circle CS (hand wired quality)

Kent Johnson of Positive-Feedback Online is doing a review on the Arte Forma Audio I-150 Integrated amp, this is last years model without the dual lightspeed attenuators... http://www.twochannelaudio.com/December2010.html I'm hopping Kent will do a review on the Arte Forma Audio Susan model with the lightspeed attenuators next!

I have to agree with Knownothing's suggestion of the NAD C375BEE integrated. Very difficult to duplicate it's performance for such a reasonable amount of $$$. More powerful than ratings suggest with tons of punch and detail.

I am very surprized that no one has snatched this up. You want build quality, this 52+ pound beast has it. I wanted it but the wife put the brakes on me adding to my hobby(obsession) for a little while.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1297653303&/Denon-pma-2000ivr-good-mm/mc-p

http://audio-database.com/DENON-COLUMBIA/amp/pma-2000iv-e.html

Bill