Living room system: class A or AB amps?

robert1976 OP Would it make more sense to get good class AB amplifiers, which can be switched on permanently without drawing huge amounts of power? I wouldn’t want to warm-up an amp first before getting good sound.

Get an Gryphon Antillion, (switchable Class-A Bias) that way you can switch up the Class-A only when you listen.

Leave it on in low bias all day, then when your ready just switch it up, and remember when you listen to a Class-A amp up to a point the louder you listen the cooler they run.

Think of it as the water pressure behind a tap washer, the pressure (is the amp heat) the more you let the water flow (listen to music) the less pressure there is behind the tap washer, turn of the tap (music) and then the pressure (amp heat) is at it’s greatest.

This is why when you listened to the massive classic Mark Levinson ML2 monoblocks, they ran cool as a cucumber, stop listening and they got very hot, even though they were only 25w full power at 8ohm, but that 25w was all Class-A.

Cheers George

Vitus SM-103
You choose between Class A or Class B
                                    Rock or Classic
A lot of power
Aestheticly speaking : no blingbling , no meters , no firecrakers.
But it is expensive .

robert1976,

     As you know, you have very high quality speakers that deserve a high quality amp,or better yet, a pair of monoblock amps to drive them.  A pair of Gryphon class A monoblock amps controlled by a Pandora preamp are very likely to be a very good match for your speakers. 
     Each amp, however, consumes 700 watts to operate at idle and up to 2,650 watts during normal operation, which is roughly equivalent in electrical consumption of 1-4 high powered hair dryers.  Due to class A amp output transistors being run with constant bias, both of the large Gryphon monoblocks will very likely provide enough combined excess heat to significantly raise the temperature of your tropical climate room. 
      Given your requirements for very high quality amplification for very high quality speakers, that do not produce large quantities of excess heat and that can economically remain powered on in an optimum operational condition on a 24/7 basis,  I suggest you may want to at least audition a pair of very high quality Merrill Audio Element 118 class D monoblocks, in your room and system, before deciding to purchase any other amps.     
     Attached below are links to a professional review and followup article about these exceptional, unique and expensive amps:

  http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/1018/Merrill_Audio_Element_118_Monoblock_Amplif...  


https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/impressions-final-thoughts-on-the-merrill-audio-elemen...

Best wishes,
   Tim

Class ?
That should determine little or nada.
Put some powered desktops on the TV and buy what amp favors the speakers most.

@millercarbon
With your depth of experience and knowledge I was hoping for something more substantial. A class-y response that would actually help me :)

Sorry, but the idea of shopping amps by design class and room is so ripe for ridicule that WAS the classy response. Its one small step down from the ones who want a certain size to fit on a shelf or whatever. At least that has some merit. Or relevance in the physical world. The idea of Class A vs AB because: living room? Sorry. Does not merit anything but cracking wise.

We here at Chez Miller select amps based on sound quality, performance features, and budget. What class it operates in never enters the picture. Now if its a small room and one amp generates a lot of heat that’s a performance consideration that may rule out Class A- but may also rule out tubes. Either way its nothing to do with Class. We don’t care about that. Designers care about that. Not users.

Its just nuts for users to fantasize about this stuff as if they know the first thing about it anyway. We have a guy here knows all about it, and every time he posts nobody understands a word but they all fake out like they do. The whole charade goes on and on until it gets to where we have a thread like this, I want to put a system in my laundry room, what Class A or AB?? Is all tubes okay for my walk-in closet or is a hybrid phono stage better?

There comes a point, see, where the subject gets so goofball humor really is the classiest response.

On a seriously helpful note, and as always: forget what class the damn thing is. Focus on sound quality, performance features, and budget. In that order.