Low Watt Solid State Amp

Try an SAE Mark 31B for about $100. I think you'll have a lot of fun.

I run a pair of Monarchy's. I have never checked the temp,but they do get warm to the touch.

As another in the "I am a tube guy" camp here’s a few that haven’t been mentioned. The Akitika GT-101 LM3886 Gainclone kit amplifier rated a 50wpc @ 8 ohms is a bang for the buck if you add a couple hundred dollars to upgrade most parts as you build. Another fun one is a vintage circa 1974 Marantz 1070 integrated which has pre/amp in & out. Very conservatively rated at 35wpc since most are actually in the 40-50wpc range @ 8 ohms. If you bypass the 1070’s preamp with your own preamplifier just using the Mosfet amp section your in for a treat. It has a warm & forward sound signature & when mated with a tubed front end puts a smile on your face. I ended up selling the 1070, but it left enough of an impression that I wanted to hear it’s smaller sibling the 1040 rated at 20 wpc. The 1040 unlike the 1070 doesn’t play well with speakers as low as 84dB, but at 86dB & up it can shake a large room. It doesn’t have pre/amp in or outs so you need to open the volume pot if you want to use your own preamp. Far less parts then in the 1070 and less is definitely more as it’s just a really fun mood ring... Oops make that mood amp.

The DIY ACA2 kit is on back order for the foreseeable future and it's the only complete kit out there. DIYaudiostore put together a component kit for the F5 so all you need to do is source the chassis, transformer, power supply, and other bits, but it doesn't come with the matched input JFETs, and Linear Systems isn't currently producing them. That leaves you looking for old matched Toshiba parts wherever you can find them. An F5 costs about $1000 to build. Most of the First Watt amps cost about that to build if they don't been unobtainium parts.