<font color='#000000'>Well, it's been quite an adventure, teaching me as much about how the business of audio sales is conducted now as about amplifiers. But, I finally have settled on and purchased an amp to drive my new (to me) Thiel CS2.2's.
As I posted earlier, I had intended to go with the Copland hybrid for $2,500- but I had trouble even ordering it, and realized that couldn't imply anything good if I had any problems. I then went back to a local store and reauditioned the Musical Fidility 308 (likewise at 2,500 bucks), against the Moon i3 ($1,500) - which to my ear sounded every bit as good. Turned out the store sells, but doesn't stock the Moon stuff, and wanted a 20% non-refundable deposit, and no return if I didn't like it. I pointed out that I could get something equvalent online with a 30 day no questions asked return. Their response was some varient of 'our policy is our policy'.
I said fine, and found Audio Advisor online, and the Roskan Kandy Mark III, which on paper looks about the same as the Moon, and has gotten some good reviews. Better still, I found that they had a demo for $800, or two hundred bucks under the price of a new one, still with the full manufacturer's warranty and the 30 day return, so it will be here tomorrow. I'm wondering what advantage the local stores have with their policies? Sure, it's nice to be able to listen to something, but given that it was with different sources, different speakers, in a radically different room, it seems that having a month to check a component out in my system trumps that all to heck.</font>
