Living room system: class A or AB amps?


Would class A be suitable for a living room system? Apart from hi-fi listening sessions, it's also used a lot for watching TV.

Would it make more sense to get good class AB amplifiers, which can be switched on permanently without drawing huge amounts of power? I wouldn't want to warm-up an amp first before getting good sound.

For this system, I have so far only purchased the speakers: Focal Stella Utopia Evo. Room is big: 1,200 square feet with openings to hallways.

I'd consider to pair them with Gryphon Mephisto and Pandora. But that's class A...

Opinions and amp suggestions are welcome!

robert1976
Class A amps do sound good very quickly after fire up,
Because they (at least mine do) reach around 80% of their "A" bias straight away, the other 20% takes a bit longer once the heatsinks get warmed up.
This is why I always recommend "if you have the money", the Gryphon Antllion, as when switched to low bias everything is on, but it's only 5w bias, kind on your power bill, but warm enough so that when your ready to listen, you press 100w high bias and it gets there much quicker. Or you leave it at 5w for parties, background music, etc There is a 50w medium button, but I don't know what you'd use that for.

Cheers George

I guess if one lives in warmer climates or has a small listening room, the ab would probably be better.
My Class A power amp gets hot, not warm, but hot, the sound is sublime, also I have a large living room so don’t notice the heat from the amp so much.
The louder you play a high biased class-A the cooler they run. The trick is to switch it to low bias when it's idle and not playing music.

Cheers George
1200 sq ft!?!?  I couldn’t imagine filling a room that size without a mega class A/B amp.  Boulder comes to mind.  Plus a dedicated power line.....