Budget Audiophile Looking For Amplifier Suggestions

I bought in the mid 90's a new forte model 3. This year finally had Jon soderburg rebuild it. At $1300 then it performed well above its price in my auditions and today it is still remarkable. 

shraggs,

I agree with you on the forte' amps. Bought a model 40pre with phono and a pair of model 7 monos. They were great and did play above their price.

 I know they play above their price because I still own them! Could never bring myself to sell them because they made my ProAc speakers sound so musical. Have them in a second system / smaller room.
If you find used forte' gear ; I would grab it.

I really like the NAD C390DD Direct Digital integrated amp with the BlueOS MDC module.  It has 150w per channel with zero THD and doubles as a digital music player.
  
Spearitsound is a good source to get a refurbished one in your price range.  That is what I did and am very happy.   

Driving Sonus Faber speakers and it sounds superb.

Best of luck!

Just another suggestion if interested in an integrated amplifier, the Anthem i225 never comes up in "high end" discussions but my experience has been outstanding as I tried moving from lots of, at the time, esoteric vintage equipment to more modern electronics.  It is available for about $1000 or less.  It has an outstanding dark floor, power to spare 225wpc for 8 ohms, a very good phono section,and outstanding flexibility.  It is musical to my ears and as noted, what struck me from some of my vintage equipment is the total silence in the background. 

I have a pair of the odyssey stratos special edition mono blocks stable down to two ohms, I run them with a tubed preamp and Kef 107.2s I love them! only paid $1,200.00 for the pair on C.L they come with a 20 year transferable warranty :) I also own a Adcom GFA 555-11 amp that does a great job as well only paid $350.00 for the Adcom.