Best Amp for $300 to Power Paradigm Monitor 9s

You can get a new QSC GX3 for $300. It should go well with your speakers.

Wolf_garcia is right about the fan. You can hear it, but I don't think its too noisy. One thing worth mentioning about me is that I can't listen to music in a room that is dead silent. I find that its just not natural. I know that most audiophiles prefer a dead silent room.

Another thing I should mention since someone brought up the Crown, is that the QSC is a traditional design, where the Crown is class d. I bought the QSC just to experiment with. I've never heard a class d amp that I liked, so I thought getting the QSC would make for a better comparison.

The amp does have limitations, but its a $300 amp and that's what the OP was asking for. I think the QSC is definitely worth the money. It has tons of power and appears to be built like a tank. It sounds fairly neutral but the imaging isn't all that great. I got mine from Guitar Center. They have a very good return policy so you are not stuck with it if you don't like it.

"I liked Muse Model 3 preamp, but never tried amp."

The bass is very good. Its a fairly clean sounding amp but the highs can be a little grainy. But not really harsh or bright. Its kind of like the bit of roughness you can sometimes get with a stranded copper cable. If you can get the Muse for $300, I don't see where you can go wrong. Another one to look for is the old PS Audio SS amps. Not the class d amps, the ones before. They're not much to look at, but they do sound pretty good for the money. Probably in the same league as the Muse.