Four channel intergrated amp?

Thanks Tony and everyone else who has responded. As you can tell I am very "green" and my terminology about four channels obviously being incorrect. Yes, I have an A/B speaker option, and can engage both at the same time. Again, I really like the four speaker sound surrounding me. :)

My speakers are a pair of Paradigm Monitor V 7.5 at 8 ohms, and a pair of Paradigm Titan Monitor V5 also at 8 ohms. Yes, I don't run them very loud, maybe at volume position 4 out of 10 at max.I find running them louder than that starts to bring on too much distortion.

Matt had mentioned Mac gear which interests me greatly, but from all the research I have done I have not seen an intergrated with A/B speaker selection. I WILL follow up on the other brands and models recommended. A good photo section is paramount, as again the vast majority of my listening is vinyl via a nice Pioneer PL-71 that I recently had recapped.

I have heard other stereo gear in Hi-Fi stores, so I know my current set up is "Mid-Fi" at best. I'm not looking to spend all $2,500, but simply have that as my current budget.

I would love to have four times that, and just by a preamp with two amplifiers. We all have to live within our means.

Again, tyvm for all the replies. I apologize for being so new, but the learning process is a lot of fun!!

Tony - My thought process was to go with an integrated amp, as in the short term it may be cheaper than going with a preamp with amp combo. The disadvantage of course is you can't partially upgrade like you can with two separate units.

I took Matt's advice and called Audio Classics in N.Y. I must say, they were very polite, helpful and knowledgeable. According to them, McIntosh has never made an intergrated amp with A/B speaker selection with the ability to engage both at the same time. That's what they told me anyway.

They mentioned an intergrated amp that on paper seems to suit my needs perfectly. The problem is it would put me over budget, thus I would have to wait two or three months to purchase.

Considering my "four speaker desire" along with also needing a very good phono preamp, they highly recommend the Marantz PM-11S3. It list for $5K, and they offered me what I thought was a very respectable discount. (Even though I am new, I understand one should never publicily quote what a dealer will offer a customer. Very taboo and unfair).

I spent about an hour today researching this unit, and it may be worth the wait for me financially. It seems to have everything I want, and the consensus of reviews are very nice. Again it's more than I initially want to spend, but if there is one thing that I have learned at age 47 is that we ultimately get what we pay for the majority of the time.

I know Marantz is a very good line, with loyal customer following. Upon a purchase of the PM-11S3, I could see myself possibly getting next year one of their nice vintage FM tuners.

I don't mean to sound like I have made up my mind, just saying I am headed in that direction and seriously considering it. My question though is IF I were to decide to go with this unit, should I audition it locally (there are a few Marantz dealers in my area) just to buy from Audio Classics? I guess the common sense approach is to go with whomever is cheaper, but I just can't lay down thousands of dollars of cash without hearing it first.