McIntosh MC252 with Totem Mani2 / Sig's

What size is your room? Once you determine your sq. footage WxLxH it will help you better decide. The larger the listening area the more it should influence you to a bigger amp. A large open entrance into your listening area will also influence your decision. Also what listening levels do you usually listen at? I can tell you from my experience that the extra headroom from a larger amp is well worth it. Hope this helps.

my room is about 12' x 14' - not very big at all. there are not any large doorways or openings in the room. i normally do not listen at very loud levels.

the more research i do, and the more a talk to people with experience, it is becoming clear that i should go with the 402. i just have to scare up another $1000 or so, which i should be able to do.

Your room is small. The room I auditioned the 252 in was 30' x 35'. This room size will have more impact on the power requirement than the speaker impedance difference, I believe. I don't think that the 803 is really considered that easy a load.

But, if you can get the 402, by all means do so! No question about it.

Check the power rating for the Mani-2s. Its power rating is 50-200W. Look at the MC-252's power meter and you will see it is pegged at 500W--, and its there for a reason. The Mac amps have very good headroom and can exceed their power ratings for brief periods as can most amps. You will likely during normal listening levels not exceed 50W 90% of the time, probably 12W is not often exceeded. Read also Sam Tellig's review of the Mani-2 whilst driven by a pair of Cary CAD-300SEs. Put it all together, and anything over the MC-252 will be beautiful to look at, a joy to own, and you will kow you have the best for the rest of your life, but a lot of machinary sitting there and lookin' great and most of the capability unused. But this hobby of ours is way more than just economics!

Skuras,
It seems you are set on getting a mac amp. If that is the case then having the flexibility of a larger amp {402} will allow you not to have to change your amp if you go with a speaker with a heavier load in the future.