I love your choice of Rogers LS3/5A. The Luxman recommendation is clearly the winner. I've owned pieces from every company mentioned above except for the Dynalab receiver. That one is very nice, very expensive. I own a Luxman 1120A and it is magnificent. Smooth, powerful and the tuner is world class, better than the very best late 70s Yamaha tuners hands down. I've modified mine to include a hardwired LAT International PC and internal soldering between the preamp-out/power-in circuit.
Is there any such thing as a high end receiver?
I am putting together a system for a friend who knows nothing about electronics, has no technical skill, but is a professional acoustic musician and likes sound that is smooth and sweet above all else. I intend to find her some LS3/5a's and maybe a tube cd player and I don't want to burden her with amps, preamps, tuners, interconnects and the whole rigamerole. Therefore, my question: Anyone know of a receiver (under, say, $750 used) that sounds sweet a la e.g. a Grado cartridge or LS3/5a's? Do all receivers sound like Sony's?