Thanks for the useful comments guys. I'll take all into consideration. Samhar, your comment about my possibly not having a good enough circuit to handle the 1000 watts does worry me. I'm renting at the moment, so there's no chance of my investing in new power lines for this house, alas. Mmm, I'll have to think about my options. Rleff, I have considered the Moscode - it's an option, although all things considered, I was taken with the beauty I found with the Joule amp I got a lend of, so am leaning in that direction. I've made too many mistakes in this hobby by trusting ears other than my own ;-) . Sometimes I take a chance on things I haven't heard but have just heard good things about, and it works out great (my ever present Supratk pre is a case in point), but there's no substitute for trusting one's own ears. Thanks everyone for the comments - all food for thought.