A eisendrath said:
Jim thanks for your helpful information. I'm really just a Baroque opera nut and know little about stereo equipment, so I appreciate it. I noted some reasonably priced (for me that means $1 to $2k) Denon AVR 5800 series units on Audiogon. Would a 5800 or 5803 work? I also saw a Rotel RSX 1067. Is that likely to work? Finally, which Marantz models are likely to be adequate with these speakers? Thanks much for your help.
sure, those older Denon's have the juice to drive your speakers. they claim 170W at 8 ohms, so you ought to be able to get 200W out of them for your lower impedance speakers. i took a hard look at the Marantz 9600 series along with the Denon 4806 (they're roughly equal), but again... i'm driving my Aeon i's through a separate amp and it's needed for my usage.
Rotel and NAD stuff also have gotten great reviews. i went the Denon route for video switching in addition to audio -- if your needs are just for listening, you can certainly go other routes that are cheaper. or as has been suggested elsewhere, try out your current stuff first and see if your ears like it. if so, you don't need to spend anything

. From my experience, classical and jazz music can really stretch the limits of audio equipment due to the complexity of the music. but trust your ears over mine.
Jim Lippert
Fremont CA