100w class A or 200 w class AB ????

I'd pick whichever is stable into a 1 ohm load. Wattages given are probably 8 ohms.

An unfair (pricewise) comparison is my Plinius SA100 MKIII power amp has 100 watts class A and my Plinius 8200 MKII integrated has 175 watts AB and the SA 100 MKII clearly has more OOMPHHH and control without breaking up. The 8200 might go a little louder but gets thinner and washed out in a typical way. This is when I was running Maggie 1.6s which like all the current you can throw their way.

Clueless- Please do not take this as a personal attack. However, Believe I have read that Class A amps provide a greater percieved scence of power. I could be mistaken, but my understanding is Class A amps provide power the entire cycle. Thus, they maintain better "control" over the speakers.

Happy Listening,

Damon

Hi
Not taken that way at all.
My response above was very limited to amps in the "same line."

Kind of "all other things being equal" response.

Class A amps are often more expensive amps and have many things (designwise) going for them besides the typical W rating that is often taken over a very limited range. An amp has to have a lot going for it to respond across the frequency range and control a speaker.

All audio amps provide power the entire cycle. If they didn't you would have real distortion. With class A every output element(I really just deal with tubes) is biased so it is on all the time. With AB they do not and the output elements have to pass off the signal and this can cause distortion.

I agree with you re the "perceived sound." IMHO It is not a matter of just a wattage rating though. Many things are involved.

Control of a speaker is a good example and a separate issue.
A complex one too.

Hey Sean tell us what you think!!!

Cheers
I remain,

He did. ;-]