Disclaimer, I am very found of Accuphase :).
Melbguy1, I am a bit surprised to read your comments about Simuaudio vs. Accuphase. My experience is that it is very hard to really moped the floors with an Accuphase, especially when comparing "mass marketed" products at comparable prices. I did not hear the Moon 700i integrated so I am not saying in any way that you might not be right.
To defend Accuphase, I should say that 1) the Accuphase AAVA volume control is one of the best available (I find it hard to believe that there are that much better implementations out there), and 2) the E-460 integrated is also a dual mono design in that it has completely separated circuits for the left and right panels. My experience is that two toroidal transformed don't always work better than a good one. For example, I have seen a Musical Fidelity A5 (not a particular special design) moping the floors with a NAD M3 (supposedly a much more advance design) when driving the Dynaudio S1.4 Contour speakers. Also, power ratings can be very deceiving. For example, my Accuphase E-550 (30 watts in 8 ohm in class A mode) had much better control over the woofers of B&W 802D than A Bryston 4BSST power amp (not to mentioned the A5 I used to own), and this in a large room (but at moderate listen levels).
Kiza, I would also consider the Accuphase E-560. It is better than the E-460 and it will have no problem to drive your Carbon 7 speakers. Regarding Accuphase prices, I have too agree with you - they are laughable. Yesterday I noticed yet another increase in their prices. Here in Europe, the prices increased with 30% in the last year and they were rather high to begin with. You might want to look also at the previous generation, i.e. E-350, E-450 and E-550. The differences compared to the newer models are not significant and you can get them for 60% of the price.
Finally, the best advice anyone can give you is to do what ever it take and listen these integrated in your room (or at least driving your speakers). All three integrated you considered are top notch and in the end it is just a matter of preference and/or system matching. Be patient.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Paul
