Amp selection for someone on a modest budget...

I just remembered A Parasound 125 watt amp (HCA 1000A maybe?) I owned years ago that sounded great. Built like a tank.

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I'm looking at which ones I can demo in-home before buying in order to make my decision. Thanks again.

I just nudged a buddy to try a tube amp in place of his Pass amp. We found a refurbished Music Reference RM-9 MkII. This thing has balls. It measured 130watts/channel, has adjustable feedback, 10,000 hour tube life, easy to bias, built like a tank. It has that great tube midrange and incredible solid state like bass. There is one up for bid on eBay right now that looks really clean. You could have Music Reference bring it back to new for $600. Not a shill, just a big fan of Music Reference and Rodger and Tony. 

Rogue Cronus Magnum 2. $2495. Great tube amp that doesn't sound tubey. Check out reviews. It weighs 60lbs. It;s a beast!!!

I’ll second the Schiit Vidar suggestion if you’re not a tube freak (like me), as I’ve recently become a Schiithead…bought a Loki EQ (amazing…seriously), and have a Freya on the way (hope it’s good…man…new gear anxiety sucks). There’s a review from Steve Guttenberg on CNET where he points out that a Vidar, Freya, Elac (speakers) system could be hard to beat for some small money (and he reviews a Freya and a Vidar)…like 2 grand for the whole damn thing (although cables and front end stuff would add to the cost as, after all, you need to put a signal through the pile).

There's a McCormack DNA500 and Clayton M100 monoblocks for sale here now that would be worth a look.  If one becomes available maybe a Plinius SA103.  What amp are you using currently?  Best of luck. 

George:
Thanks for the suggestion on the Schiit equipment, I'll take a look at it. The Stereophile article information is also very helpful! Much appreciated...

tesi Amp selection for someone on a modest budget

I’m looking to add a power amp next. Revel Performa3 F208 speakers

Best bang for buck at the moment is a single Schiit Vidar @ $699, and should drive those Revels nicely. Maybe later get the Freya pre as well.
http://www.schiit.com/products/vidar

Stereophile test on the Revel F208:
" The impedance ranges between 4 and 7 ohms for most of the audioband, though there are dips to 3.6 ohms at 100Hz and 3.2 or 3.7 ohms at 2.9kHz, depending on whether the HF control switch is set to its maximum or minimum, respectively. The phase angle is generally low, or high only when the impedance is also high, ameliorating its effect. However, the combination of 5 ohms and –50° at 25Hz means that the F208 will need to be driven by a good 4 ohm-rated amplifier."

https://www.stereophile.com/images/714R208fig1.jpg

Cheers George

if you are willing to consider tubes, for the $$ and within your budget, IMO the Rogue M-180 mono blocks are superb. FWIW I drove my Revel Studio II's with a pair to sonic perfection.

I own and enjoy a Wyred 4 sound power amp, 2 ch, 250wpc.  They also make multichannel amps 5 and 7 Channel.  As a bonus they are considerably below your budget and on sale right now at about a 20% discount.  

In line with jl35 and his odyssey suggestion, w4s offers upgrades for almost all of its equipment.  They also offer 30 day trial so not much to lose by trying.  

For $6K, I'd stretch just a bit and shop for a used Pass 250.8 which would be super with the F208's.

Outlaw gets rave reviews as recently as the most current edition of Stereophile.   

Thanks for all the replys, I appreciate the help!

there's a thread up recently for best $6000 amp...

The rest of my speakers are NHT including an NHT center channel, super zeros in the rear and an NHT sub. My budget for the amp is up to  $6ooo. I will be replacing the NHT speakers and sub with Revel  Performa3™ Series F206, C208, and B112 in the near future. My initial thought was to get an amp for the two front speakers and a separate amp later for the surrounds and center channel. I'm open to alternatives. Thanks again for your input!

+1 kalali. Need budget. You have good speakers, what is rest of system?

Without a clear budget, this conversation is essentially pointless and will only result in a list of usual suspects.

NAD Is also a great amp for the money 

If you look at Parasound, the A21 is the one to get. A very high fidelity amp with tons of power. I have one and after trying many othe amps by Parasound, this is the best bargain.

I was on the same hunt for 7 months. After considering many different amps, I settled on Job 225 power amp and Job Pre2 pre-amp. Numerous very positive reviews. I am assuming your budget for the power and pre-amp combo is under $4000.

I recently bought a 2x250 watt Yamaha P2500s pro audio amplifier for my son (to be used with Harbeth M30.1 speakers). The price was 300 euro, or $350 (incl tax). Its bigger brother the 2x350 watt P3500s was tested thoroughly here http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/amplificateurs-de-puissance-haute-fidelite/mesures-ampli-yamaha-p... (in French I am afraid) using an Audio Precision audio analyzer. It measured very well, and better than quite a few far more expensive audiophile amplifiers. And for those who wonder: it also sounds fine (like any amplifier with such numbers). It has balanced inputs, and an optional high pass filter to protect speakers against low frequency explosions. Unlike many pro audio amps, it has a variable speed fan that will never come on in domestic conditions. And of course it is well made and built to last under hard conditions.

Used Parasound A23?

Odyssey makes some great amps, and they are factory upgradeable as you upgrade your system...

parasound has lots of high-current juice and works really well with revel--look for an hca100 or the like.