I like my Arcam FMJ A22 integrated a lot and it has surprised some people with its performance but I'm starting to think about possibly upgrading it - but we're talking not until around end of Feb next year. Unlike with my digital source upgrade I [b]will[/b] take the time to audition any potential change :) I may not upgrade at all - I still need to be convinced that the money I would be spending would give me a worthwhile improvement over the Arcam. First of all, there are two things I absolutely [b]must[/b] have in an integrated or pre: 1) remote control 2) a unity gain input so that I can use my stereo amp as a "power" amp for the front speakers of my AV system. I've always been a big fan of integrateds and the extreme paucity of pre-amps below the £5K mark (particularly with the features I want) isn't helping to change that opinion! So, the 3 integrateds that are on my mental shortlist are: SimAudio i-5 (£2500) BelCanto eVo2i (about £3000 I think) Krell KAV400xi (£2700) These are all pretty bl**dy expensive - actually quite a bit more than I would like to spend. Only the SimAudio seems likely to be available s/h in any numbers in Europe and of the other two it's going to be almost impossible to audition a BelCanto :( The BelCanto and the Krell both however have the advantage of balanced inputs which I could use with my DAC64 to (apparently) great sonic benefit. There doesn't seem to be much on the integrated front in between my Arcam (around £1100 when new) and that lot above and in any case, I think it would take a jump to a £2.5-£3K integrated to make a worthwhile improvement on the Arcam. Valve amps I've pretty much discarded because they either won't have enough power to deal with my inefficient Dynaudios and/or they are unlikely to have the remote control and unity gain features I must have, or if they do, they'll be way beyond my budget. If I'm wrong about that I'd welcome to be corrected. I don't have anything against valves! Now, something that upset my thinking a little bit was perusing the [url=http://www.lcaudio.dk/com/]LC Audio[/url] website and seeing their DIY/kit amplifiers. I'm particularly intrigued by their "ZAP Pulse 2.1" digital (PWM) amplifier module ([URL]http://www.lcaudio.dk/com/zp2.htm[/URL]) which it would seem would allow construction of a pretty awesome power amp for not a huge amount of money (£6-800 depending on case and ancillaries). Of course if I built one of those then I'd have a power amp and no pre-amp. One option would be to continue to use my Arcam merely as a pre-amp but I wonder if that would really work that well. Even without the demands of the output stages on the PSU, the Arcam probably won't be a pre-amp to match a decent power amp. So just today I find out that Arcam are bringing out a new pre-amp, the [url=http://www.arcam.co.uk/fmj/products/C30.html]C30[/url] for just £1200 - combined with the LC Audio digital power amp that would still be only £2K, significantly less than the cheapest integrated on my shortlist. Question is - how good is the Arcam C30 likely to be? I'll have to try it and see :) As I mentioned earlier in the post, there are very few reasonably priced pre-amps so going pre/power is probably out of the question if the Arcam C30 (or indeed my existing Arcam) don't cut it as a pre-amp. I could still satisfy my DIY urge and build a 3ch. LC Audio "ZAP Pulse" amp to power the centre and surround channels of my AV setup :MILD: Sorry about the long post :rolleyes: - comments and suggestions welcomed :) Michael.