Just a word on the Claytons - I have no personal experience w/ them but I have *read* that these amps favour a low impedance speaker over a high(er) impedance speaker. In particular, the M100s seemed to perform stellar with a 4 Ohms speaker. From the pro review (if you are willing to give it any credit!) it seemed that even 8 Ohms would not bring out the very best from them. Search the archives of http://www.soundstage.com
The reason I know this 'cuz they were #1 on my short-list but I ended up buying the German Symphonic Line amps as I could not find Claytons in my price range. IMHO, the Symphonic Line amps also offer tube-like performance. All the Symphonic Line owners I have communicated with mutually agree that these amps have "soul". These amps are available from Klaus of Odyssey Audio. Of course, this could be viewed as a biased opinion as I am an owner.
FWIW.
The reason I know this 'cuz they were #1 on my short-list but I ended up buying the German Symphonic Line amps as I could not find Claytons in my price range. IMHO, the Symphonic Line amps also offer tube-like performance. All the Symphonic Line owners I have communicated with mutually agree that these amps have "soul". These amps are available from Klaus of Odyssey Audio. Of course, this could be viewed as a biased opinion as I am an owner.
FWIW.