Plinius SA-50 MKIII vs SA-103

I owned the SA-102 for several years and thought it was a great amp... and like Samzx12, I also owned a BAT VK 200, but IME, the Plinius sounded much better to me than the BAT amp.

I don't know this to be certain, but have read that the SA-102 & the SA-103 are nearly identical on the inside, and that the differences are largely aesthetic. With that being said, if you want to move up in power, you may want to consider the SA-102 and save yourself a few bucks.

Personally, the specs on your speakers lead me to believe they are fairly efficient, so the boost in power moving to the SA-103 is probably going to have a marginal impact. If you want to try something different, you may want to consider a moderately powered tube amp (thinking 50 to 75WPC would do the job).

The Class A capability of the Plinius amps is a big plus. They sound so much sweeter but I found that A/B mode drove my speakers better or should I say the bass was tighter. That was then and now I have a smaller integrated amp and more efficient speakers. If your speakers are efficient then Pdreher gives some good advice. Either take a smaller step up or try a tube amp or maybe a tube integrated.

Plinius SA-103 is the best amp I have yet heard in my home system.
I have owned Hafler, Audio Research (tubes and solid state), Atma-Sphere, BAT, Pass (Class A and Class AB), Rowland, VAC (Phi 200 is amazing), Music Reference, and more.

The Plinius is a keeper. I have no idea whether the 102 and 103 are the same inside, but get the 103 and feel great!

Another option is trying to find (patiently) another SA-50 and using them as bridged/balanced monoblocks for a differential 200W each. That's what I did with SA-100's, along with XLR cables. Seems like more than the advertised 6dB gain increase.

Those speakers are 8 ohm nominal with 5 ohm minimum and wouldn't be tough for bridged amps.

thanks for all the input. I did consider getting another sa-50 for mono operation.