Yes I agree that Freewill has seemed to grow into wanting higher end stuff and realizing that there is a difference in low priced best buy gear and stuff that is worth having. I know I have heard a lot of brands of equipment I do not have as high end of a system as I have worked with in the past when I worked in the audio field but I do aspire to get some better gear and bring my system up to the worth of my knowledge in this hobby. As far as the gear mentioned hear I pretty much agree with everyone and would say that checking audiogon a couple of times a week would be a good thing since their turnover is real high and also that Emotiva might as well be something to look at since you want to go higher end but at the best possible price per performance units and they seem to be kicking some real ass with their stuff for the money. And you say you are building your own speakers I would not mind hearing about your plans for them and what type and brand of drivers you are going to use seeing that DIY is one of my things as well. And as well if we knew more about what speakers you were runnning we might have an even better ability to send you in the right preamp/amp direction.