I think they are jerking you around. Eliminating the electrical insulating material between the transistor and heatsink will reduce the thermal impedance, allowing a bit more of the transistors heat to be transferred to the heatsink, but this doesn't change the laws of thermodynamics. The heat still has to go somewhere.
This would allow the heatsinks to run a little hotter without risk of damaging the transistors - say 60 or 65 degrees C. But even so, heatsinks this small would not allow nearly enough heat to be dissipated for 40W class A operation. And your case would be so hot that you wouldn't be able to touch it for more than a second or two.
Take a look at the Pass Int-60. This is rated at only 60w/ch into 8 ohm (although that's pretty conservative) and has rail voltages considerably less than your amp, which means the transistors need to dissipate less power at the same idle current. The Int-60 will do class A up to 30w/ch. Now take a look at the size of the heatsinks on this amp.
This would allow the heatsinks to run a little hotter without risk of damaging the transistors - say 60 or 65 degrees C. But even so, heatsinks this small would not allow nearly enough heat to be dissipated for 40W class A operation. And your case would be so hot that you wouldn't be able to touch it for more than a second or two.
Take a look at the Pass Int-60. This is rated at only 60w/ch into 8 ohm (although that's pretty conservative) and has rail voltages considerably less than your amp, which means the transistors need to dissipate less power at the same idle current. The Int-60 will do class A up to 30w/ch. Now take a look at the size of the heatsinks on this amp.