Affordable amp reccomendations for M&K S5000THX... HELP!

[Random_audiophile]

So, I am posting in my first forum for anything really. I need an amp! I have been into audio since my early teens. I have a decent background in electronics and physics. I have done lots of experimenting with loudspeaker box design and have taught myself a fair amount. I have built a few pair using drivers from Parts Express. My last self-built was a pair of dayton 10" Series 2 woofers, Their old 2" fabric dome mids and 1 1/8" silk dome tweets. Crossed over @500&4k. I love em. When used with a sub The vocals are the only area where they out-do My M&K's. The M&K's were given to me by a close friend and I cherish them. I have built a nice Dayton 12" Reference series sub for them. It does the job well.
For amplification, I had a wonderfull Crown DC-300A. A very unfortunate and painful event that we won't talk about led to its death . Since then I have been running a class A-A/B Pioneer 504s. When paired with My crown IC-150 preamp it has done alright. Now it is starting to have issues. There is some full power crackling from the R channel after it has been on for any length of time. I no longer have a scope or the necessary equipment to troubleshoot it myself.
I am running currently another pioneer reciever (vsx-d308) but it sounds horrid in comparison. It does not pick up the fine detail; fingernails rubbing the guitar strings, light symbol taps, etc. With vocals, the B's, T,'s, d's, etc are muddied. The imaging and soundstage is horrid. I'm also convinced due to the shit imaging that the R to L phase is out.
So, it is either get the pioneer fixed or find something new. I had been out of the game for quite some time. Now, with compressed audio and all that it seems most consumer audio is just crap. If they made something good, nobody would buy it because they would hear all the imperfections in their crap 128Kb/s at best recordings. Sorry, had to go on a rant there.
I need a decent sounding amp that I can afford. I am taking care of my mother who does not have much time left and most all of my resources are going to her. I have been looking around, I do not know much about the newer class "t", or even d amplifiers theese days. Hearing how the current pioneer sounds has left me quite reluctant to buy anything. Were it the nineties, I would be looking for something rated with atleast 100-105db s/n ratio. Class A-A/B 1Hz-20KHz full bandwidth power @.08THd And around 150-300 Watts CLEAN into 4ohms. I have looked at a couple Crown PA amplifiers in the $350 range but reading reviews, They just don't look that great. I love my music, I need an amp to get me by untill I can afford something worthy of my M&K's. I have even considered dayton's hta 100bt, or another of their amps; a 75wpc brick looking thing (lol) just to get better sound for the time being.
Does anybody have any good recommendations for my situation? I would be happy with 50watts if it has good headroom. I just want the imaging and detail back. The pioneer 504's was actually decent. I could have it fixed but in my small town (Coos Bay, OR) we only have one mostly retired guy that is now working from his house. He is also caring for his mother and he told me with how things are going; it might take him a few MONTHS.
Do decent, affordable amps exist theese days? Would you guys get new or get my existing decent pioneer fixed? I need to keep it cheap but do not want to waste money getting something even worse than this shit pioneer.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Sounds like the Pioneer VSX-504S may need to be gone over for bad solder joints. Anything that either gets warm or is heatsink-mounted would be a candidate, and the power amp stage alone would have plenty of those. In case of the crappy-sounding D308, I would make sure it's in bypass and take a closer look at its speaker terminals, a broken ground return connection may well cause the problem you are describing. Check for continuity between front L and R (-) and RCA or screw terminal ground.

As far as new stereo amplifiers go, I might look at a Yamaha A-S501 or A-S701. Something decent used may be a better bet though... you may be able to find a higher-end pre-HDMI AV receiver from the mid-2000s for a decent price. (Better / newer models than yours have probably ended up at Goodwill or in recycling already.) A lot of models from around 2010 are ticking time bombs, or at least their HDMI boards are... TI had a widely-used series of DSPs that tend to suffer from premature aging, and if that chip decides to call it quits, you can say bye-bye to any audio.

 

[222fbj]

Buckeye Amps has Hypex/Ncore amps in various configs.
I have the 2 channel NC252MP version on order - arrives early April.
I'll use it with a Loxjie DAC w/Remote. Maybe get a preamp in the future.
btw -I was very close to buying a Yamaha S501/S701 - a good choice IMHO if an Amp won't suffice.