need your help on this one.....

Watts are over-rated in my opinion, unless you have an extremely large room, highly inefficient speakers and like to play LOUD.  Current, quality of parts, design and build quality should play a larger role in your decision process.    

Pass and Plinius are both very reputable.  

I believe the SA 301 is class AB... so I'd recommend the SA-102 or SA 250 which is biased for Class A and has a toggle switch to run in AB.. but I strongly preferred running the SA-102 in class A when I owned one about a decade ago.

Pass has an excellent reputation, stronger name recognition and may have better resale value.

yes, pdreher  I play my music loud, have large, hungery, somewhat inefficient speakers, in a large room, alon IV's.  I thought the pass x250.8 was class ab.......

I have owned both the SA-103 which is  class A, A/B switchable and the SB-301 class A/B. I you like big dynamic sound especially with less than efficient speakers, go with the SB-301. It offers a much punchier and defined bass and overall more control in my opinion than the SA-103. I'm driving Legacy Focus 20/20's and get huge sound from the SB-301. There is an article somewhere that states, power is everything. I really believe that reserve power is important for defined transient response. I cannot speak to the Pass line.