Are Monoblock s worth it?

Dynamic headroom! Interesting words. The stratos is a good amp according to what I read, but I have not heard it.

Do you currently find that when listening to large scale orchestral passages that the instruments all get jumbled together instead of remaining in their places in your soundstage? The monos may help alleviate that congestion.

This is a hard thing to describe, but I call it "the space between instruments", where all are distinct and easily identified in the mix.

I hope this poor scribe may have helped shed a little light for you!

Paul

I went from the stereo stratos to the monos and the difference it made with my Sound Lab Auras was incredible. The sound stage opened up and suddenly there was a lot more detail. This all happened before they were even broke in.

My Auras on the monos also put out so much more bass that I sold my sub that I had been using before, and they do all of this at low or high listening levels. It is well worth the extra money.

I have everything monoblocs after my preamp (and if I could afford a JP200, that would be monos too!), both amps and external crossovers. In addition to the benefits of the dedicated power supplies giving an ease to dynamics, the lack of crosstalk between the channels at the amplifier end leads to better stereo separation and imaging, and probably is part of the lack of congestion and more open soundstage that Paul and Tthomas refer to. In addition, although you may not listen loud, I think you may be able to notice the improvement in dynamics on the micro level even at low volumes. If you can afford it and have the space, my view is that it would be a worthwhile improvement.