Need help with separates for Gallo Srtrada (Version 1)

Gallo Strada. Sorry for the typo.

I tired them with some Cary Audio separates and wasn’t too impressed. (SA-200.2 ES amp and SL-100 preamp) and The overall sound was a bit too dark and boring for me. I’m not opposed to dark sounding gear as this is a very "live" room. (Small office with pretty bad echo) but even this is just too dark for me.

I’ve heard the Gallos are hard to drive, so I think 150w+ may be best. (I could be wrong on this)

I need separates because I am using them with a sub+active crossover setup unless it is an Integrated with Preamp outputs and also amp level inputs (bypassing the pre)

I know some of the McIntosh integrateds have this, but I’ve heard McIntosh gear is even more boring / dark than Cary. Can anyone offer any advice or any other ideas of amp combos to look at? Budget is probably around 8k.


Thanks