mono versus stereo ampflication

>>They normally have better bits and pieces inside of them as compared to their stereo counterpart,<<

That folks, is simply BS.

I have a large room (22X38, eight foot walls to 10 foot peaked ceiling) I listen mostly to classical and 60's rock at volumes of what a normal symphony attains. I listen near field at about 10 feet from speakers but also like to load the room.

If you give an audio engineer $3000.00 and ask him to build a stereo amp and then ask him to build mono blocks of the same design, most of the money will be spent on the TWO chassis and the extra power cord, etc.etc. etc. when building the mono's, so actually you can afford to put better parts in a stereo amp. Hope that made sense?

I think that there are far too many variables involved to be able to generalize as to whether monoblocks or single-chassis designs will be better.

Gammajo, it sounds like you need lots of power. What is the max power rating of your speakers, and would you want to future proof your selection by making it powerful enough for possible speaker upgrades in the future that might be able to handle more power?

I have no particular experience with amplifiers in your price and power range, but based on what I've read I'd certainly look at the offerings from Pass Labs, Plinius, and possibly Ayre if their lower priced models provide enough power.

Regards,
-- Al

If I had monoblocks I'd put each near its speaker thus reducing the need for exotic speaker cabling. Even if you still thought that necessary the cable runs would be as cheap as possible. On the downside in such a scenario I'd want the monoblocks fully balanced so to use XLR cables on the longer interconnect runs.