Best bang for my $1500-$300 bucks?

I ran 3.3's for about six months in a large-ish room.

I have not had experience with the amps you mention, but will share my experiences nonetheless. Speaker cables were at all times either Kimber Select 3033 (all-copper) or Kimber Select 3038 (all-silver).

The 3.3's sounded good with a Bryston 4B-ST (Nb: Dynaudio's distributor in Chicago likes the Bryston amps with the 3.3's). The 4B-SST is a different amp, however, so do not read too much into this.

They sounded better with Rowland Model 6 monos with batteries.

For some inexplicable reason, they really came alive with my VAC Renaissance 140/140 monos. This is inexplicable because the 3.3's are inefficient and drop to 3 Ohms in the bass, and are not known to be tube amp-friendly. The VAC's have excellent output transformers and power supplies and can drive 2 Ohm loads, but I would have thought that the Rowlands would have worked best. In any event, the 3.3's were outstanding with the VAC's.

The VAC's are out of your price range, but Rowland Model 6's without batteries can now be had for about $3k (with batteries, +/- $4k).

Fantastic speakers, by the way -- very underrated (and a steal for what they go for used).

Hope this helps.

IMHO the Plinius would be a great match (and in your price range - used) for your speakers. I'm running the SA100 MKIII and i love the sound it creates with my Contour S3.4's. They can be found here used for around $1700. Good Luck.

Thanks guys. The hunt continues, and I really do think the 3.3's are wonderful speakers. I don't run them in a huge room, so they might be a bit of overkill, but the sound is very nice to my ears. I just want to see the next level and the amp seems like the logical upgrade.