I'm sure there are some really nice sounding multi-channel amps out there, but i'm with you when it comes to A/V...I simply do not care one iota for the whole mess. I have a plasma tv that I enjoy quite a bit, but my home theatre consists of an Onkyo Home Theater in a Box that I bought new for a a grand total of $250.

I guess it is kinda nice to have from time to time, but I wouldn't put another penny in HT.

As for your integrated question, you darn right! Of course, value is somewhat subjective so you'll have to determine what that is. I will say this, you can get a new integrated for under $400 that is certainly of audiophile quality and entire systems (integrated, CD player and speakers) that are entirely musical for under $1000.

Here is a list of int amps I would check out, there should be some reviews of them online if you do a google.

Going from low to high in terms of price:

NAD 320 BBE
Rotel RA-01 or 02
Rega Brio
Creek A50ir
Rega Mira

I have personally heard all of these amps and they are great, another one which I would check out that i have yet to hear is cyrus's stuff.

Anyway, I hope this helps, if you start the speaker search, try to check out the following models

Rega Speaker Line
Tannoy F2
Tannoy SYS600 or SYS800
ATC 7 or 12

Well that is my 2 cents for whatever it is worth, I hope you all are having a good one!

Find a way to audition the latest version of Krell's integrated amp. It's designed for the two channel music lover but it has a "theater throughput" mode that lets you pass multichannel input to a multi-channel processor. The quality and sound of these little integrated amps belies their price.

Don't buy anything until you've heard the Musical Fidelity X-150. Dollar for dollar it can't be beat. What speakers will you be driving?

For the last 3 years I have been very pleased with my Classe CAP-151 integrated. I think it is an excellent entry level audiophile integrated. It has been recently d/c by Classe. Mine is for sale and I see them pop up on Audiogon periodically as well. Barry