Downsizing advice

I think you can down size and still go with seperates and still stay in your budget. I'm not that familiar with your gear but judging by your choices you might like the (all used) better C-J solid state seperates or the better Electrocompaniet integrated.

Look into the Conrad Johnson CAV50. You may find one for around $1500

i'm with suggestions for plinius 8200 that has a well-controlled bass and tube-like mids and highs. you can also get it used for $1.5k and be surprise how good this unit for the price and how can it beat separates.

My own experience (for what it's worth) is that I downsized from a combination of a rich sounding ss preamp and mono tube amps to a ss int amp. I could not live with the sound. I tried ss separates and another ss int amp. I could not live with the sound with any of those. Then I stumbled onto a very cost effective solution. I picked up an AMC tube amp on ebay for $700 and a Quicksilver LS for $600. While this is noone's idea of a dream system, it sounds very nice for the money and I would prefer it over almost any ss int amp except, of course, for the Rowland. I was downsizing more to conserve space and make my system less conspicuous, but I ended up spending much less than I imagined and got sound that is as good or better from where I came. The only downsides were the losses I incurred buying and selling the ss stuff.

Have you looked at the Krell 300i? It's been well reveiwed and definately fits into your price range. I know some people don't like the krell sound but I have a few of their pieces and have found them to be very musical.
Good luck with your other issues.

Jond, sorry to hear about your predicament. If finances are driving your decision, then I suggest you go significantly lower than your target budget of < $3k. YBA Integre (not the Passion) appear regularly for sale for less than $1,000. Good luck!

The cONRAD JOHNSON intergrated if youre into tubes....

YBA Passion Integre

I haven't heard it, buy the Plinius 8200 is supposed to be very good. You may find that you enjoy using a nice integrated, I do. You also may be able to come across the first series Jeff Rowland Contentra for 3k or a touch over.

It may be a little more than you are looking for, but take a look at the Jeff Rowland Concentra II. I'm not too sure what they are going for used, but I think you might like it. Also, from what I hear, Plinius MK 8200 is definitely a piece worth checking out. McIntosh makes a couple. The MA 6500 is in your price range, and the MA 6900 is a little more, but may be worth the price increase. The Mark Levinson 383 goes for about 4k used, but I can say it is one nice integrated.