Integrated Amp upgrade

The British mags don't compare the lower priced integrated amps to the high end ones such as Plinius , Classe' , Krell,etc. Marantz is nice equipment compared to Denon, Arcam ,etc, but compared to a nice high current Classe', Plinius ,you can hear your money. I own one of the older top rated Yamaha integrated amps, a Rotel 971 (better), and a Classe' CAP 151. I also own a Marantz SR18. While the Marantz sounds way better than my old Sony ES receivers, neither it nor my other integrated amps is as smooth, dynamic , and refined as the Classe'. IMHO

what about a lfd mistral le, if you have $1500..

The Marantz PM 84D in its day cost about $ 2000. Not very inexpensive I would think. But it seems to me from reading reviews that costs have come down quite a bit in the last decade. I was just curious if anyone had compared the old, $ 2000 + integrated amps with the newer integrated amps in the $ 2000 - range (such as the Creek, or Musical Fidelity).

What HiFi is in my opinion the worst of the British HiFi mags. It seems that every piece of Marantz equipment presented for reviews gets five stars. Nearly 10 years ago, on the strength of such a review I demo'd a $500 marantz integrated amp against similarly priced offerings from Arcam, Audiolab and Mission/Cyrus. The Marantz was totally outclassed in every respect by all three brit amps.
I would recommend you go and listen to a few of the integrateds you mentioned, even if it's inconvenient, before believing any of the What HiFi Marantz reviews.

FYI : I'm not biased against Marantz ... I think they make wonderful CD players (I own a CD67SE). However I don't believe that their amps are competitive, or have been for at least 10 years.

i agree with sean ''what hifi'' is a pub beer boy mag'' i cant believe people put in their mags
''VOTED TOPS BY WHAT HIFI'' overated tacky mag filled full of jap gear what you can buy at curry's or circuit city...NAFF!!!!!!!!!!
even HIFI choice mag has gone down the hill fast reviewing tacky gear and home theatre stuff...
my mates at home now read HIFI+