Not familiar with his speakers but maybe an Arcam integrated will fit the bill. Avoid Rega integrateds. Nad/Rotel are average at best. Since he listens to metal/hard rock i dont know whether the Marantz would be an apt choice.
Thanks dinyaar for your opinion. I was really waiting for it because as I can see from the forum you among a few others are experts on amps.
Plasmoid, there you have it. I'll go with dinyaar's choice of Arcam.
Today I had a bit of free time after dropping off my son for his CAB 1st division cricket match at the Kolkata Maidans. So I went to SKS traders who keeps Arcam and Creek. I had a small session of auditioning of the Creek EVO and the Arcam Diva a 65 amp. The Creek Evo is bad, plain and simple. There are some quite good reviews of it on the net, I do not know how. There are many things I did not like about it, but without going into any details let me just say that at Rs 50K the Creek Evo is perhaps the noisiest amp I have ever heard.
The Arcam on the other hand was very precise (BTW I have never heard any Arcam amp before) with a low noise floor and its dynamics quite likeable. Wherever necessary, it was also quite punchy. Very neutral kind of sound, with minimum of coloration, so it seemed. This is not a detailed review or anything of that sort. The Diva A65 was however just 40 wpc I think, but I gathered some idea about Arcam amps and the experience was very pleasant. They also look great, I think. Build quality superb.
So you can go with the Diva A70 (at 45-50K, 50wpc) or the A80 (at 60-65K, 65wpc). The store had the A65 out for demo, and I did not bother them to get the A70 out, because I really did not have the time. In any case I was not buying.
BTW, speakers used for the auditioning were the inexpensive but quite good Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 pair.
