May I second the Pass lab Aleph seies. I've heard the 4 and 5 and have the 3. It's as near ideal as I think I can get. I do'nt see that it is base light as many have described it. The base is well controlled so it's not prominent. The Monarchy Audio amps I have heard are also excellent as are Sugden amps which are all class A. The latter will take you above you're price limit, but are beautiful sounding amps. I went to the UK Hi-Fi show yesterday and several rooms were using Sugden and they were all listenable, which is more than you can say for most of the dems
