Amp pairing for Nad m51 and focal 816w speakers

YBA 3 Alpha Stereo Power Amplifier
Listing ID: lis65j6g

Take a look at this listing. It's a little more than what you want to spend, but it may be worth it. YBA is one of the better matches for Focal.

Cool I'll read up on the YBA, at first glance it looks great, but only 40 watts at 8 ohm, the rotel I'm running now is 120 watts. I know that all lower isn't the same but it's considerablly lower.

I think the YBA is in the right track in that it's very musical sounding, which is what I want, just power seems too low.

I have the M51 in my system and while I don't use your amp or speakers, here is a review that has the Rotel RB-1582 MKII and A23 in direct comparison.

http://www.soundstageaccess.com/index.php/equipment-reviews/560-parasound-halo-a-23-stereo-amplifier

They consider the Rotel a bit warmish, softening leading edges and not having as much resolution or imaging capabilities. The Parasound was preferred, but it likely wouldn't help with upper treble remarks you had voiced.

I've never owned either brand, so I couldn't give a proper recommendation on them. As for the M51, bags of resolution while never sound harsh and even a bit of warmth. Used it direct and with my preamp and it seems very close either way. I keep the preamp in for added input flexibility.