Newbie building modest system ...what amp?

The old McCormacks are great in that price range. I would suggest you consider a good passive volume control, like a Promitheus REF 4 to go with the McCormacks. The unmodified McCormacks have a very high input impedence and play well even with resistor based passives. No issues at all with a transformer volume control like the Promethius. For 1100-1200 I think that combo will get you more than any integrated I know of in that price range. I believe McCormacks also are nice with Vandies.

i recently had three amps around this price range in my system at the same time - mccormack ht1 and 0.5 both smc modified and a macintosh mc7100. all were very good and exceeded my expectations, but the macintosh was definitely the best of the bunch. it’s an excellent sounding amp, and for the prices they sell for used (generally around $900), it’s an absolute steal.

Look for a Forte Model 4, 5 or 6.

I have had McCormack DNA125, Forte 4A and Classe 100. Personally I liked the Classe best. A HiFi tuning fuse in the Classe made for a nice upgrade.

I recommend too going the integrated amp route as the best way to maximize your budget.

There is a Denon PMA A100 integrated list on Audiogon now, and I recommend it. It is the anniversary edition of the PMA, which I used to own. The regular PMA was a a very good piece, and I believe the anniversary version had upgraded parts. It has a very good phono stage too. It's also very high current, capable of 20 amps continuous, and 125 amps peak. I sold mine only because I was going from having two systems to one, and that final system costing about twice as much as the other two combined. I simply wanted to free up the funds. One last comment. About the original PMA, on its website, The Absolute Sound said, "At its price point, nothing else comes close."