Need some Amplifier Advice..

[L_ukee]

Hi, im sure somebody here can point me in the right direction..

So for the past year i have been running a very basic setup..

Harman Kardon HK980 Stereo Amp
Harmon Kardon HD980 CD Player
(Bought together at a discount price)
Bowers & Wilkins CM1 Bookshelfs
Homemade aluminium stands...

I realise that im not doing my speakers any justice with that setup, so ive decided to upgrade.
I recently bought some Atacama Moseco 7 Bamboo Base stands for a first step but then i came across a B&W CM Centre Speaker for a price i couldnt refuse...

Which means i now definatly need to upgrade my amp to accomodate the Centre channel and get the most out of it..I hear Rotel is usually a good match for B&W speakers but i was wondering if anyone has any other suggestions as powerful Rotel Av amps might be a bit out of my budget.

I should probably add that B&W floorstanders will hopefully be added into the mix in the future.

Budget £600-700 if new.
Would consider Lightly used equipment
Or Ex Display

[walpurgis]

Not wishing to put you off Luke, but I hate centre speakers. It's not my idea of stereo, all they do is reduce the impression of separation and affect the imaging. Often the drive units in centre speakers are audibly not a tonal match to the main speakers.

Unless you are aiming at ending up with an A/V or surround system, I'd encourage you to look at getting the best out of a pair of speakers and an amp upgrade may well help do the job. Your budget would certainly get you a decent two channel (stereo) amplifier (multi channel amps tend to work to lower criteria in my view). A good amplifier will enable you to upgrade speakers at a later date.

[Macca]

Quality wise a typical multi-channel amp is not going to be any better than the HK you have now. The only reason to change would be if you want multi-channel. If so anything from Sony, Onkyo, Marantz etc will work fine with the speakers. They don't hold their value like stereo kit though so I'd suggest buying a used or heavily-discounted one to avoid the depreciation.

[audioquiz]

stereo is definatly best imho, but if you got money burning a hole in your pocket you can't better 2nd hand. Why waste £500 to £600 on new? when you can spend the same amount on quality used kit. A far better deal, you could spent a little of your money getting it serviced, plus if you buy new its devalued as soon as you buy it, were as good used kit should hold its value a lot more