Pre Amps Are More Important Than Power Amps
Most people seem obsessed with power amps and power generally and yet in my experience it is much easier to get a really good sound with a good pre and an average power amp than a good power amp and average pre.Unfortunately there seem to be very few good ones around though.The Supratek valve ones are clearly the best I have heard but are not really cheap.The point though is that you can spend most of your money on something like this and use it with a relatively cheap second hand power amp or even new digital type,and still achieve utterly fantastic sound.
JT