Class A amplifiers - which are considered the best

I have to agree with Rocco. The Burmester 911 MK3 must be heard regardless of price. It is simply stunning in sound and in looks and build quality.

For high powered Class A amps I would go with various Clayton models. If you have high efficiency speakers the Coincidence Technology Frankenstein 8 watt/channel Class A amps are impossible to beat. Played with a number of Coincidences own speakers (such as the Pure Reference, Pure Reference Extreme's, & the Total Victory V's), the sound produced is exquisite.

Greg

Audiopax Maggiores - 100W - Class A - SET (my pair arrives this weekend).

Plinius SA-103, SA-Reference

Anyone have experience with those two?

The amps run in AB mode but can be switched to Class A at the flick of a switch. Plinius claims this allows the amps to be powered ON all the time. You just flick it to A before listening. And after a period where there's no input signal, it switches back to AB.

Sounds neat.

Pass XA gets so much overwhelming love here I will give my +1 to Luxman. I replaced a Pass XA-30.5 with a Luxman M-600a and haven't looked back. Similar, but better all around for me. Like the sound, the build quality and craftsmanship is also more refined.