Retirement integrated amp for a “fiscal conservative”

@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!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

@vuch and @corelli thank you for those words of wisdom. I know my system placement and room treatment is far far from what would help get the most out of my current equipment. Unfortunately, I don’t have the opportunity for a dedicated listening space much less room. It’s in a large shared recroom that includes a pool table and play area for my now 6 grandchildren (wildest is 7 and youngest born 5 days ago).   Keeping it protected from the grandkids is a primary objective of placement.  

Excellent selections are offered herein.  I'd suggest having a look at the Kinki EM-1X integrated amp, which would use about half of your budgeted funds.  

I’m currently using a Primaluna Dialogue HP Premium integrated amp which I’ve enjoyed for many years. Here’s where the “fiscal conservative” part comes in; this amp has 8 power tubes. Even with Primaluna’s great low tube stress design concept, I’m not looking forward to replacing power tubes every couple years with my retirement bonus listening time. Also, I’d like to get additional damping factor bass control than my current amp provides. I love the tube midrange and treble range sound, but would like an upright bass to sound more like a wood instrument (hard to describe in words) and hear more natural note attack and decay

The Yamaha A-S2200 ($4500) or the A-S3200 ($8000) are both tubey sounding SS (no tubes) amps with the higher damping factor, tubey midrange, etc, a nice step up from that primaluna. The Yamaha sound guys take a long time to try and make sure their stuff sounds as close as possible to the instruments they make. The sound of these amps changes significantly after about 120 to 150 hrs of burn-in (They don't ship from the factory burnt-in).

Sounds like you’re interested in a low maintenance solution, so reliability and servicability are important criteria along with sound quality. I’m not a huge fan of the esoteric cottage shop brands because of having tried to find service for exotic gear in the past. The words ’ephemeral businesses’ come to mind. It’s in the nature of the hobby, I suppose. My shortlist would include these three:

Luxman 505Z/507Z Heavily rooted in the analog world, the only real question is if the $3,000 value add is there on top of the $5995 price of the 505Z. Otherwise, they are impeccable sounding, fully featured and gorgeous. Still need a DAC/Streamer.

Mark Levinson 5805 on sale for $6500, is world class in every regard. Stereophile Class A rated and lacking nothing. 125/250 W/ch, massive power supply, MM/MC phono, great DAC, w/MQA, aptX Bluetooth, dedicated HP amp. It’s all there.

McIntosh MA-252. If you like the retro-MC-275 styling, and fancy a hybrid tube front end / 100W/Ch Class AB power amp with bulletproof build, here you go. Just bring your own DAC/streamer. At $4995 there would still be room in your budget.

Personally, the MA-252 puts a grin on my face, it’s just so 😎 cool. And the 505Z? Who ever really regretted buying a Luxman? But the Mark Levinson, though, is such a value, so complete an offering, I’d be hard pressed to walk away.