I'm a huge fan of Naim and Avondale - a sort of home grown copy of Naim. I hang around on the Pink Fish forum at www.pinkfishmedia.net where you'll find good advice and used Naim kit for sale.

I have an Avondale 260Z which is an improved Naim 250 driving Epos ES14s - classic 80s speakers that still sound very fresh. My source is a modified Ipod (sounds better than a CD player and much neater) into a passive pre-amp.

I have to say I don't like Linn products much. I'm surprised you're buying new. As he says, there's so much on Ebay. The Naim NAP500 and 300s come up quite a bit at a fraction of the new price.

And if you are thinking of Quad monos I would suggest looking at Avondale M130 mono blocks. There's a guy on the Pink Fish forum that sells them and will demo in the Essesx area. They sound amazing apparently. Naim beaters!

Charlie