Anthem MCA-5

I have used a variety of MCA amps with my system, MCA 2, 3 and am currently using the MCA 5. Great for the money, I agree with Snofun3, hard to beat for what you will pay. Try to get one home for an audition if you can.

Hi - I have an MCA-5 that I used for a year before recently augmenting it with a Proceed HPA-2 for the front channels, and I'm using the two remaining channels of the Anthem for passive subs. While the Proceed is definately a step up, I really didn't feel that I missed anything with the Anthem.
The Anthem in fact did a great job with some very difficult-to-drive speakers - ML Aerius i's, Cinema center and Magnepan 1.4 rears.
I would characterize it's sound as "analytical", not dark, bright, sweet or anything else. As always ensure that the amp, speakers and cables all get along nicely.
I think you'll find the power is excellent as well, and you have to drive it really hard to get any harshness.
If you go to audioreview.com you'll find a number of complimentary reviews, but I have to agree that the binding posts are a pain.
I don't think you can go wrong with the unit, and for the money I don't believe there's anything that can touch it.
Best Regards and good luck - Les

My budget is about $2,000.00 for everything. That has to include cables so things do get a bit tight. I might be interested in something used however, any ideas of used amps I can look for in that price range. I can always go to Radio Shack for cables to hold me over for a while.

I have the MCA-2 and consider it a decent enough amp. But I think you will find the MCA's to be a bit dark and would match if carefully to your speakers. I do not know the sound of Def Tech speakers and so cannot comment on how they would work together but I have B&W CDM 7SE's along with a Sonic Frontiers Line-1 Preamp and am relatively happy with the sound, although the Bryston sounded cleaner when I compared it against the Anthem at time of purchase.

Have you considered the Bryston 9B-ST five channel amp, I don't know what your budget is but the Bryston is about double the cost of the MCA.