just starting

Whats your price range?

My price range is $500 to $1500 for an used int amp. I dont know to what extent the ADS would benefit from a higher priced amp so the $1500 is with the plan to upgrade the speakers next year.

Though I have not heard either, based on the recommendations of members here, I will be looking at plinius and musical fidelity integrateds shortly for an office system. Both are in the price range.

That will be an interesting switch from the L810's to a small monitor of recent design. Very different sound I think, and if you get a brightish sounding amp to go with the L810's, you may regret it.

Better to find an amp that will mate well with the speakers you intend to buy. As a suggestion, there's an Electrocompaniet ECI3 advertised by jeffsoundvalues on AudioShopper.com today that would probably be a good fit for the Merlins. I've never done business with them but have spoken to them and they are very helpful nice guys with what seem like fair prices. They should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Bottom line though, settle on the speakers you intend to keep before trying to find a matching amplifier.

The Musical Fidelity A300 is an excellent choice from my point of view for your budget, I own one and think it's a great amp for the money. I like it more than the Krell 300i which is a grand more expensive. The A300 costs $1500 new. You can see some good reviews about it at www.audioreview.com. Jorge.