Parasound A23, Good Deal for Under 1K or No?

[KLJTech]

Quote:
Originally Posted by john curl
Serious listeners should get the A21 or the JC-1 monoblocks. That is where I put my best effort.
The A23 uses my design, but not my direct input. 2 means 2 ch, 3 means cheaper.

I'm shopping for a new amp and was either going to get the B&K Reference 125.2 or the Parasound Halo A23 (leaning more towards the A23). After reading the what Mr. Curl had to say in 2008, sounding less than enthusiastic about the A23, now I'm having second thoughts. Wouldn't an amp designed by John Curl be hard to beat within it's given price range?

I understand that a thousand dollars isn't considered a lot to spend on a amp. I would've happily spent much more than that a couple years ago but life happens (sometimes it crushes your spine) and a grand is a lot of money to me now. I'm wondering if the Parasound A23 is considered one of the better amps for under a thousand dollars or no.

If anyone here owns or is familiar with the Parasound A23 (or the B&K) I'd love to know what you think about it's sound quality. The amp I buy will be for my office (14'X11') system and I'll be driving B&W CDM 1NT's and at times my Magnepan 1.6's. I use a Velodyne sub with both speakers and I use the High Pass outs on my preamp (into the amp) so the amp will be driving the two speakers primarily at 80Hz and above.
Thank you in advance for any info you can provide.

[KLJTech]

Anyone have an opinion on the sound quality of the Parasound A23 for an amp in the under one thousand dollar range?

What amps under 1K (new, retail price) are better than the Parasound A23? Are there any integrated amps in that price range that sound better than the A23?