If anyone found a Sonic frontier muffled sounding there was something wrong with a tube most likely or the amp it self. The sonic frontier amps and preamps were very good at tonal balance and resolution. Perhaps a tad slow huge sound stage. Don't be afraid to upgrade the tubes in the cd seperates they se to like the reflector 6922 equivalent. That is worth an ask to Chris Johnson stock they used sovtecs mainly tonal balanced always seemed good to me but many other choices I prefer. I have dealt with audio connection/ parts connection for a number of years that is a straight up kind of place very professional and things have always happened the way they said they would. The fact that it is a little older wouldn't bother me in the least well built and has more life left in it than a bunch of new stuff being sold today. That pair you should be able to buy for about 10000 Canadian or 7500 USD. In fact there are ads on Canuck audio Mart for each piece at the moment. Two different sellers one with the pre the other with the amps. The power three amp has boats loads of power it will be hard to find a speaker that those monoblocks cannot drive. I have the DAC and transport three as well as a anthem six disc changer. The DAC and transport three are at the pinnacle of redbook cd players. One of the five best ever made. Enjoy your purchase I am sure you will. I hope you understand to hear that power pre at it best you are going to need top tier everything else to go with it including wire.
Regards