jazzman7 - I perused the CODA stuff. Wow. I'd love to hear their most recent iterations.
I queried John at Benchmark about more power, which he is not planning to do. He claims that THIS amp design does not increase distortion when bridged to mono - the only down-side being half the damping factor. But cutting output cables to half length gets that back.
Thiel used and recommended Bryston all along. I found it somewhat less sonically sophisticated than some contenders. People say that their Cubed series takes their performance to the next level.
I've grown to love the Benchmark stack, since my interest is in "just the facts" rather than my subjective experience. For my alternate reference, Bill Thalmann at Music Technology (thanks to JA) is souping up my Class´e DR6 and pair of DR9s. I realize there are more modern rigs that probably get closer to the truth, but I know and have been using this stuff since the 80s, so it serves me well. I bet his upgrades will carry the strengths of the DR design while adding some refinement via better caps and a few secret tricks. I'll report when that happens.
Meanwhile, send some CODA my way so I can tell you what I think.