Help a new guy get started

Thanks for your responses, they are helping me be real about this.
A little bit of backstory applies, I believe. I'm an English teaching trumpet player (thus the low budget) that has heard lots of music from the stage and the audience, but once we decided to start a family I have backed off on the playing so listening matters much more now. Sadly, trumpet players are very similar to audiophiles in that they like to tweak their equipment, and I can feel that starting with me. I have a Yamaha receiver Klipsch quintet combination for movies and it isn't cutting it any more. I bought a pair of Grado 60 headphones that I really like, so, in a way, I am trying to replicate that sound without walking around the house with a pair of headphones.

Thanks again for your responses. I have looked at the Peachtree offerings and have seen a few show up here. I've read in the posts and some reviews that the amp is the weak link in the unit. I understand that the DAC and the other parts of the Decco are really good, but the amp wasn't that great. Does that mean the amp sounds bad, or that it is fair, but the other portions of the unit are stellar and overshadow the amp's qualities?

By the way, I appreciate your candor and kindness thus far. I read a thread about getting into vinyl and it almost kept me from posting.
Allen

I'm almost ready to jump out there and do some listening, but I thought I'd pose one last question before I go. I think I am going the Peachtree Decco 2 route, but would there be much of a difference if I were to pair a separate DAC( DacMagic) with an integrated (used NAD, marantz...)? It seems like you'd gain speaker options if you went with a sep. amp. I realize that others are accepting the deficiencies in the decco's amp and sending the signal to a better amplifier, but I don't think I could do that for a while.

Thoughts? Experience?

Thanks again,
Allen

Thanks for the idea Poprhetor,
I spent some time really looking at the Swans active monitors because, as is stated earlier in the posts, I plan to use my laptop for lots of the content. I decided against it because I didn't want to have to have my laptop tethered to them. I'd also have to get DAC as well. If I worked in an office I'd really pursue that idea.

Any advice on speakers to go with them? I'll have about $500 tops after purchasing the Decco 2.

Hotmailjbc,
I was looking at the PSB B6s (6 ohm) or Polk Rti6s (8 ohm) to match with the Decco 2. I was shying away from the PSBs because of the 6 ohm rating. Are you saying that even though the amp isn't very powerful, it is stable enough to 4 ohm quarts?

Allen

After a lot of reading and research I bought a Peachtree Decco2 and a pair of Polk Audio RTi A3s. They came in last night and I let them start loosening up on Steely Dan, Shirley Horn, Wynton Marsalis, John Mellancamp and The Messiah.
So far I really like the Decco 2. I can see why people purchase an amp to go with their Peachtree. The Polks are relatively efficient, but the volume was at 12 o'clock before the sound was enveloping, and at 2-3 o'clock the sound got stuffy with the tube. I didn't really get that stuffiness with the headphones.

Still like it though and will go grade a handful of essays while l
listen some more.
Thanks for all of your help with guiding my purchase everyone.
Allen

Poprhetor, I teach AP Language and Composition to high schoolers as well as film. However, since I am in public education, I've taught quite a bit from beginning trumpet (yes, I knew what I was doing) to all levels of English. I'll keep the suggestion in mind about the biamping.

Vhiner, I don't know if you'd call it a good ear, but it has to fit what I think is good where I am in this journey. I know what a trumpet should sound like and I know that Terrence Blanchard, Wynton Marsalis and Charlie Schleuter all have different sounds even though they all play really expensive Monette trumpets. I can tell more subtle differences now that I couldn't with my original set up that serves as a HT.