Budget Audiophile Looking For Amplifier Suggestions

I only make reference to this ad because I own one, no affiliation with the seller. There is a Musical Fidelity A308 integrated for sale here on Audiogon. They don’t come up for sale too often and for good reason. I have had mine since new and still have no desire to replace it. At that time I was working in the A/V industry, and happen to meet and talk with US distributor for MF. I was surprised that he also used the A308. Thinking he would have the flagship model above costing twice as much, I asked why. He said it was more power but the A308 was a little sweeter sounding. The Soundstage review listed in the ad is spot on describing the sound. It will stretch your budget, but you would be happy for a long time.

It was made in England and the last of the products, other than flagship models to be made in England.

I like my Sunfire - the caps don't last forever, so you may need to replace after 20+ years.

BTW, Nominal Z: 8 ohms is fine, but be sure the entire impedance vs. freq. graph has no dips into low ohms (for most amps).  I expect a Sunfire will not care.

I've heard Vincent pre-amps and they sound nice, but I'd worry about the co. going belly up, as many small co.s do...

I just found that Vincents are designed in Germany and built in China.

I had an sv237 and it did sound very nice.

Everyone,

I'm pleased with all the responses and got a lot of good suggestions to keep an eye out for.

The one that's got me the most interested is the Odyssey Stratos.  It has the longevity to fit my time and (hopefully) discount parameters, but I do have a question about it.

The Odyssey is supposed to operate in class a for the first 10 watts and switch to class b above that.  How is that transition handled without inducing the dreaded GM doubling issue?