Newbie building modest system ...what amp?

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."

Think I'm going to take a different direction....

Preamp is going to be first, then vandersteens and finally amp.

So more research to do ....

Speakers, then amp, then preamp!