The "charactor" of pure Class A?

Well, getting back to the question Ralph. I think Mr. Carsten is entirely correct . True class A amps have muscle if you can imagine that, Yes they great for Rock you must have read that wrong.
The signature is a tad of warmth Atmasphere amps aside, and are willing to play the bottom octave if need be they to. The amp will truly double their output
This happens whenever a split in resistance occurs let's say Clayton says it will generate 100wpc at 8 OHMs that's what they mean for a linear lab generated 8 ohm resistance. When in true life they double their out put to 200WPC at 4 ohms and so on, for every drop in resistance, if the amp is built to work at 1 ohm, like Krell.
That finally before burning the to amp to pieces at 1 ohm the amp generates an incredible 800Wpc.

Authority yes and finesse and sweetness, when called for. The early ML-20 monos had it 40 years ago and how wonderful they sounded on the Quads or later the Servo Statics. Anyone remember?
And Ralphs own now on my Sound Labs, which is a difficult load for the MA-2 Mk. III's 220 watts but it easily betters the Siegfrieds in triode mode at about 400 watts and only in pentode mode at 700 those beasts equal the "authority" of Ralph's OTLs and considerably more cost. Just go figure.

Thanks Atmasphere. Wish I could remember where I saw that article.

i have auditioned three class a amps. they sound different. my favorite was wonderful from 200hz and below, ok from 200 hz to the upper midrange and unsatisfactory from around 1000hz and higher.

i have owned and auditioned class d amps and other non class a solid state amps. i have a problem with ss amps in the upper mids/lower treble and with all but the most "well behaved" tube amps.

it is possible that some class a amps may be "kinder to the ear" in the mid range region, but too many are not.

hi detlof:

i owned the ml 2s, i believe it was called, 25 watts of class a. i used them with a pair of quad 57s. they were not my amp of choice. the overall presentation was dry--no romance, no bloom. quads need tubes. while solid state may provide good bass response, i would not want to listen to violins, harsichords or cymbals.