Mono Blocks on a Budget, is it possible?


I’m really struggling with the direction to take my system. I have the following:

Legacy Classics speakers
Aurender N100H media player
Schiit Freya tube pre-amp
Schiit Yggdrasil DAC
Schiit Vidar x2 (in mono block mode)

I will be replacing speakers at some point but the rest of the system I love... except the Vidars. Before them, I had NAD 356BEE that was used for the amp. Very clean and I loved it, except it was only 80 Watts. I decided to upgrade to the Vidars. They cost twice as much From a good manufacturer like Schiit so they must be better right? Not really. They are more noisy than the NAD amp and I’m finding myself less in love with them that I though I would be. I was planning the Vidar purchase for about a year and now that I got them I don’t know which direction to take in replacing them. I want to get cleaner mono amps but don’t want to spend more than $3k MAX for both. The Vidars are 400 Watts into 8ohm, are there any options out there for me that are close to the Vidar specs? I’m open to used but mostly I want the amps to sound almost completely clean with practically no distortion. 
xerotrace
Xero, the two amps you’ve used are 80 and 400 Watts. Question: what was wrong with the 80 watts that you didn’t like? 
Temple Audio monoblocks - far from expensive and highly musical. 
Their sound is fast and dynamic, powerful and rich offering different layers and a big soundstage. 
It's important to pair it with a good preamp because of gain and tone/neutrality. I have my monoblocks connected to a McIntosh C712 preamplifier, feeding a pair of Zu Audio Omen Def speaks. The overall performance is fantastic!
Temple Audio is a relatively small company from Manchester but they design and make their own proprietary modules and all the metal works for the enclosures. That way I was able to customize my amplifiers and power supplies with some interesting finishing combinations and personal engravings. 
For more power (and money) there are many other options. One that I also considered was Ghent Audio. 
213runnin - no you have it right they are 4ohm. I actually did like the 356, a lot cleaner than I was expecting and had decent power so I was relatively happy with them. They were definitely a lot cleaner than my class AB Vidars which is strange (maybe it isn’t, maybe class AB is more noisy...)

jeburgess - well that is a good question. There were 2 things that made me get rid of the 356. It is an integrated with only 80 Watts so in the pursuit of improving my system and the sound I thought moving from an integrated to a dedicated amp would be better. And heck, in that case moving from an amp to a pair of monos is even better still right? I learned that is not necessarily true. The second reason is I’m getting my younger cousin into the hobby and when he picked up a pair of Elac B6s as his first pair of speakers I sold him the 356 very cheap so he can have a good amp and a good sound.

Ron 1319 - please keep us posted, I’m so curious to hear if you have the same issues with the Vidars as I did. 
I have to agree with the above posts suggesting that a good stereo amp would be more effective for your dollars than monoblocks.  And, to introduce a new thought, I've lately come to the view that better wires are the most cost effective buy in improving a system.  That being said, I'm not sure if this principle applies across all system dollar levels.
Jim Heckman
For anyone who read my post above about comparing the Crown 1502's to the Schiit Vidar in my system, it's not even close.  It's actually surprising how much better the Vidar sounds. 

Now, that said, the configuration that I've found that sounds the most fun is to bridge the Crown amps for the low end on each side and run the Vidar amp to the upper end.  That way I get everything that's great about the Vidar amp with the basically unlimited power of the Crown amps for the bass.

If I listen to Erykah Badu with just the Vidar powering both speakers (with a jumper,) the low end isn't involving enough to really be fun.  I decided to try the Crown amps bridged and this is the fun I'm looking for.  As a bonus, I get level control for the bottom end through the amps.  

Is this the most high end configuration possible for these speakers?  No way.  But it's the most fun with what I have here in front of me.  The only other thing I want to try is driving the bass with the Yamaha M-85 I was using, but I don't actually have speaker wires to try that right now.  I have 3' Transparent The Wall speaker wires that I was using in my bedroom system (40" TV and CDM2's on my dresser.)  

I bought a bunch of Rockwool Safe N Sound on sale yesterday at Home Depot for $14/bag.  I'm going to make a bunch of sound absorption in the next week or so and see if that improves things further. 

I need to write to Anticable and see if I can modify my speaker cable order still or if it's too late.  I guess if they offer a trial/return policy then I can return them before they ship them.  I'm still not 100% sure what the best cable configuration is.  I was most surprised that I seem to prefer my Straghtwire interconnects to the Tranparent Music Link Plus for the high end.

I think my conclusion for the OP, as it pertains to this thread, is that it's way more complicated than someone in a forum on the Internet being able to just say "do this."  Maybe you'd love the Pass Labs recommended above in mono-block form, or maybe a couple of Crown amps like I have ($350/each) bridged for the bottom end would work for you, too, and leave you $2200 for a very sweet amp for the top.  My friend in college had Legacy speakers.  I'm sure they could have used a lot of power.