Lucked into a used pair of Pulsars last fall. Woke up the bug again and have been replacing everything else I had. Found an Atma-Sphere pre that I've decide is a keeper. Respect to amps, have auditioned a couple ss ARC's (class a/b and d), McIntosh L275 and a Hegel H20 (just what I have available locally to try). Neither the ARC(s) nor McIntosh did much for me. Sound was fine, but little to no soundstaging. Just sounds coming straight out of boxes. The Hegel on the other hand dances pretty well with the A-S and Pulsars. Regardless of volume level, there's an openness and dimensionality to the recordings that the ARC(s) and Mc just don't offer. Not that I take it to '11' all that often, but for such a small unit the Pulsars can actually light things up. And this particular Hegel is more than one would ever need to get the most possible out of the Pulsars in this respect. Do know the Pulsars are very revealing. Good recording (i.e.: Still's 'Treetop Flyer', Patricia Barber 'Too rich for my blood') will put the biggest grin on your face as your windows rattle away. Poorly recorded stuff can become almost intolerable once you've heard how good the good stuff can sound.
Not fully committed to the Hegel just yet. Will be giving the Parasound a21 a listen. Would love to hear the XA25 as well, but fear that will be a harder find. Would like also to know what the First Watt SIT-3 and Atma-Sphere S-30 do, but again, availability? If you plan on spending any time at all occasional annoying your neighbors (volume up), your likely going to want at the very least 100w/channel for the Pulsars. Efficiency is not their thing. If however, like me, you're willing to sacrifice the ability to rattle windows in favor of the best possible low volume presentation, the Pulsars can that game well, too.
