Best multi channel amp and processor good for 2 channel listening.

Room is not an easy one since my living room area runs openly to the dining and foyer.  The system is going in my 19.5 x 21 living area and the dining is 19.5 x 14, all this is wide open and runs into each other.  Almost forget to mention the ceiling is a little over 9ft.

Mzk,

I was just reading about the Benchmark. What do you think about the Belles, Simaudio and McCormack?

Belles: Never heard of them, but quick research shows good performance at reasonable prices.

Sim/Moon: Good performance but overpriced, same category as Boulder. Also, they focus on the wrong things, selling a >800W power amp for $42K is just dumb, there are hardly any speakers that don’t distort/clip when fed 200W (some speakers claim they can, but it’s just marketing unless DSP is in the picture).

McCormack: Decent performance at reasonable prices.

Pretty much all amps will measure flat and accurate.  However, I stopped focusing on "measurements" a long time ago.  Some measurements will help, but they will never tell you how an amp sounds.  Much of how an amp sounds is how the input stage and output stage circuits are put together as well as how the amp is biased (Class A, Class AB, Class B).  Also, how the Class A bias is engineered to initially slew.  High bias Class A amps and warmer amps will start slewing gradually and then rise up with their normal "slew rate".  These amps will sound more full and have more overall volume, but they will tend to have slightly rolled off high frequency resolution.  On the other hand, lightning fast amps, such as Bryston, will have excellent high resolution response, but the bass/midbass/midrange may be light.  That is because the slew is so fast, that it is not letting the amp continue to translate the DAC square step waveforms into true analog waveforms.  It's all relative, though, and system synergy has a lot to do with it.  That's why I thought that pairing the somewhat laid back Class A Bryston SP3 processor/preamp with the very fast Bryston B3 amps would be a good match.  They would compensate for eachother's sonic signature.

auxinput,

I can see that and I also understand not everyone will interpret or hear the same way.  I am still going to audition the Bryston, as I stated originally a 20 year warranty is not to be taken lightly....