classe twenty five and classe fifteen

Sorry, I needed to clarify that the DR3, DR3B and DR3VHC were indeed Class A amps. The DR8 and DR9 were listed as Class A/B amps, but "might" have ran Class A up to a certain level.

I owned both the Twenty Five and the DR25 in the same system, and much preferred the Twenty Five, despite Classe telling me the technical differences were minor. I found it more dynamic, alive, open sounding. I originally explored the Twenty Five, already owning the DR25, after reading the Stereophile review, where the reviewer (LG I believe) very much liked the Fifteen and did not like the DR15 at all. My speakers at the time were Snell B Minors.

The BIGGEST change between the DR-25 and the Model 25 was the removal of Dave Reich's name off the internal circuit board and replaced with Glen Grue's name. I still have the original DR-25 and Model 25 promotional literature and there is NO mention of any updates nor changes to the specifications. Dave Reich is a designer, Glen Grue is a marketer.

The worst power amp I have ever owned by far was a DR10, which was bland and inspid to a point that it made everything sound like a loud AM radio! I replaced it with an old, old Son of Ampzilla which was superior in every way, and sounded far more powerful and snappy, although its rated power was quite a bit lower. Ulimately a pair of the rare-as-hens-teeth Exposure XVI monoblocks showed what a huge amount of music was being strangled to death by the DR10s. I ended up giving the DR10 away.

I don't doubt you had a bad experience with the DR-10. You don't say what speakers and other equipment it was mated with. Proper matching is everything. I've been in this hobby for 40+ years and have owned more amps (tube and solid state, mid-fi and high end) than I can count on the digits of both hands and feet. Not one of them ever came close to sounding like an AM radio, not even the Phase Linear 400 Series 2 that I have in my collection. Peace.