Good starter amp recommendation

I will not make a recommendation on what to buy, but I will make recommendations ( cautions ) on what not to buy. Early B & K ST 140s. By todays standards, very dark, very muddy, very soft, no dynamics. 20 plus year old McCormack amps. Ready for rebuilds, new front end boards, etc., but if you find one that has been rebuilt recently, a great choice. Nuforce STA200. I have 2, and think they are sleepers ( excellent ), but are finicky with associated gear in front of them. Tubes ( and this is my opinion ). Colored, noisy, microphonic, and expensive to re-tube. They do some magical things, but no longer for me. Odyssey, good in some systems and not so good in others ( same with Nad, ime ).Try returning an Odyssey product for a refund, Klaus will have a fit, but after some cooling down, will credit a refund ( again, ime ). Set up 2 different systems, if possible. Any screen will mess up the center image when listening to 2 channel music. Also, in my experience, all the other speakers in a multichannel set up, when listening in 2 channel mode, will be playing along, as the woofers vibrate along from the spl in the room. Biggest recommendation, try and listen for yourself. Or, as millercarbon says, ignore anything I am saying to you. Enjoy ! MrD.

My comment on the B&K ST 140, was stated by me " by todays standards ". Yes, I agree, back then it was a good amplifier, and especially for the price. But not today, and this, is ime, and, imo. Sorry to have hurt some feelings here. But even back then, there were many competing amplifiers that did not sound the way I described, as this is how I remembered them sounding. I sold them, and liked the ex 442 and Pro 600. But the ST 140 was good with small bookshelf type speakers, and if anyone thought they were lucky, well, that would not be my take on it. Let me move on.