Retirement integrated amp for a “fiscal conservative”

Ezstreams, I’m 70. That Pass 250 weights about 105 pounds. I use a hydraulic lift 

move it on and off my rack. That said my next choice would be the HEGAL. It’s warmish with excellent bass and good detail. I enjoy it as much as my Pass. If you are looking for neutral with just a hint of warmth in the midrange that would be Accuphase. Talk about build quality. The best I ever seen. Attention to detail is incredible. I don’t know what to say about my Macintosh other than it has tubes in the preamp stage. The sound is audiophile sounding but nothing special. I only purchased it because I always wanted those blue meters. Now that I have it, I always listen with the meter turned off.Go figure 🤣

You’re not going to have to replace tubes every couple of years.

8k probably won’t get you too much further than you are with the PL. The rest of your gear probably works great with the PL. They're not bad amps for the money matched with the right speakers. I had your model amp in my rig for a while and then bought an EVO400 power amp so I'm familiar with the brand although I've moved on from the EVO400 a while ago.

When you upgrade one thing it can lead to finding other weaknesses in all of the other gear/cables, etc of the rest of your rig. Unless you’re committed to addressing everything along the way and the increasing expense, I’d recommend staying with what you have and perhaps dialing in the room.

@vuch I whole-heartedly agree that PL makes a pretty good amp, for the money. I also share your thought/“warning” regarding the ever present upgade-itus audiophiles tend to be aflicted by.  That said, I’ve enjoyed the PL integrated for 7 years and figure if I don’t upgrade from it now, I never will. 
I can see by your posted system that you are way further down the path to audio nirvana than I will ever be…what an awesome system you’ve put together!

@ezstreams, thank you for the kind words. However, don't be distracted by equipment in regards to audio nirvana.

I also have a mid-fi rig that I've put less than $1k into getting it off the ground this last year. I have it set up using all that I've learned regarding speaker placement, listening position, component matching, isolation, etc. I really enjoy that rig almost as much as the main rig! It's crazy but true! The rig definitely shows its limitations as the volume increases but as long as I keep it within its limitations the sonics are very enjoyable!

The other benefit is that I can put any pressing quality album on the turntable and it sounds good. With the main rig, a bad or average pressing sounds terrible so I have to take care to obtain the best sounding pressings for the main rig. That can be a real pain instead of just going to a record store and buying an album without thinking of pressing quality.

I believe that setting up the stereo properly and addressing the room may account for 50% of the sonics quality! Addressing these issues can make you fall in love with your rig all over again!

@vuch  i couldn't agree more with your observations.  My secondary systems are all capable of providing a large portion of musical enjoyment to be certain.  Do they do everything my primary system can do?  Certainly not. But in some regards, with the right music, they can do things I might enjoy as well or even more than my primary system.  

With attention to detail (and especially component matching), you do not need to spend a fortune to obtain a wealth of musical satisfaction.  In many ways, working with a budget and trying to max out performance at a price point is a heck of a lot of fun!