I love the xa25 and the int25 but I didnt like them for classical. They fell apart very quickly when turned up to even moderate listening levels. GI really enjoyed the gsi75 and LM 845-premium were incredible- especially with classical. You had mentioned you have a pre so youre shopping for seperates - that being said one of my favorite amps, and you can find them used for about 4k, is the magnus audio ma-400 - a simply incredible amp. I regret selling it to the day. I had a tube front end on it and Joshua Bell has never sounded better at high volumes in my room. Best of luck in your search!!!
For classical music lovers best amp for large orchestral forces?
I recently upgraded my pre to an arc ref 6se. Currently using pas xa25. It's a very good amp but I'm noticing a fair amount of compression when playing large symphonic works. My speakers are Dalis and they are excellent as is the arc.
For smaller forces, chamber, piano and voices the system works beautifully. But if I'm looking for more transparency and a deeper sound stage for symphonies I find sometimes a boxy cramped sound. Looking to spend around 8k or less either tube or solid state. There have been discussions about the xa25 and what's better but they fill up immediately with tangents of philosophical and technical discussions of how one hears. I'm looking for as many possibilities of actual units that I can read about and possibly hear.
Thanks for your ideas.