First Hand Experience?

arafiq, you mentioned the Parasound amps. As I am using this for  2 channel music only. I'm curious about the THX certifications. Does that get in the way of a strictly music set up? In other words, would I be paying for something I don't want and, as it is designed for home theater also, is it an infringement on my needs?

Well the silence is deafening. I guess that it speaks for itself. But I did ask for first hand experience. Maybe I should have phrased the question differently.
Anyway, I'm wondering, considering the specs of this amp, what you all think? I don't see too much else in this price range that comes close. Or am I missing something? I've always been led to believe that Rotel was a middle of the road product and as this is a $1600.00 amp I guess that is true. But it does have some nice features like 60,000uf storage capacity and balanced as well as unbalanced connections.
So let me know what you think.
Thanks

OK.
Room about 24 x 24. Listening to some Jazz, lots of Blues & Adult Rock. Some Classical.
I do not own a modern turntable but plan on buying something in the future so it's mostly CD & USB from thumb drive & PC.
Speakers are B&W CM6 S2.
I was going to try tubes but have since decided that they will not work too well with the speakers. As I do not intend to change speakers right away I'm sort of stuck with transistors.

Yes I didn't mention a preamp.
Eventually I want to go with a tube preamp. This is going to be a one piece at a time deal. So currently I have a very nice Yamaha R-S700 receiver with a "main in/pre-out" RCA connection. So my intent would be to use the Yamaha until I decide on a Tube Pre. (as my wallet allows me too)
Not ideal, I know and I can only guess how it will sound. But it will be temporary.
I also realize that with these speakers I do not need all of this power from the Rotel amp. But again, eventually I will upgrade the speakers as well as my bank account dictates.
Thanks for the replies, and I'm curious of any thoughts on the Yamaha as a pre-amp if only for a short time.

Understood. Is impedance matching more important with a tube pre & ss power amp combination?
I read a rule of thumb might be about a 10:1 to about a 100:1 ratio, power amp input impedance to preamp output impedance.
Again, does this hold true for both tube & solid state? Don't want to hurt the speakers!

Thanks for the input on the Parasound amps. I have had my eye on them, but wasn't sure what to think. Will read any reviews I can find.

Another priority for me is sound stage and separation of instruments. I get that to some degree with the Yamaha integrate with a good FLAC or DSD file. But not nearly to the point where I can picture the instruments in their respective locations. Some of this my be due to the speakers but I believe separate amp/pre amp will help this a lot. Thoughts anyone?

Good points all.
My budget on the amp is $2,000.00 or less.
I thought of going with the pre first but I'm not sure what that would add to what I would hear out of the speakers. Thus my thought of amp first and Yamaha "pre-out" until I could go with a tube pre amp.
MECSH you mention Jolida; I was looking at their Fusion intergrate as well as their tube Pre amps & amps. I did read some reviews that the intergrate & seperate amp lacked some in the "umph" department. In other words, did not do all that well driving Hard to drive speakers.
My CD player is (again) a Yamaha CD-N500. Not sure what you mean buy "digital out." Honestly, this is a really good cd player with Burr-Brown 32-Bit/192kHz DAC. It sounds very good especially with FLAC file CDs. Wish it handeled DSD.
As for impedence, I've always been a fan of 4 ohms. But considering my limited budget I think I will get most for my money sticking to 8 ohm speakers.
As for inergrate, I'm already there with a 100 watt Yamaha Intergrate. Sure, there are better receivers on the market but going with seperates will allow me more advantage as far as tweaking in the future as my bank book allows.

Hi vicwest.
Yes it seems I am being driven in the Parasound direction! I have given the z-line a cursory look but will give it a more thorough examination. I was looking at the Halo line which looks impressive and the Halo 23 is well within my price point for sure. At 125 watts per it is probably ample for my current needs. My only thought is, will it suffice with a view towards future upgrades? You have addressed that question in your response from your own experiences. I appreciate that.
My current speakers (B&W) I believe do not work too well with tube power amps. I can't say that from personal experience but from input here on Audiogon and by at least one tube amp retailer. So for the moment I'm limited to solid state although the Jolida line interests me especially for it's pricing.
As you may have read on this forum, I will use whatever I end up with for 2 channel audio only. I do not have much need for in home theater, but I do want to get as much as I can out of my music system as dictated by what I have to spend. As it is that more than one person has responded with suggestions to look at Parasound I have to consider that line seriously. I do not mind spending all that I can on one item within my audio system and building from there. And as it stands now, I consider myself starting from scratch and will add & build as I can. One question; are you using a Parasound SS pre-amp in your system? Have you tried a tube pre-amp with any success?
Thanks to you and all of those who have answered my questions.