Class A amplifiers - which are considered the best

If you like pure Class A solid state, these Mark Levinson ML2 monoblocks are it if you can find a pair, note the amount of heatsinks just for 25 watts of class A (no a/B) and they get HOT!!!. Goes to show that others are stretching a long bow when they quote class a figures with pitiful heatsinks and quotes of 100 watts of class A. What they're really saying is a small amount of class A up to a point then class b the rest of the way.
Have a look at these beauties.
http://www.wtconcept.com/levinsonml2/

Cheers George

"Goes to show that others are stretching a long bow when they quote class a figures"

Amen.

Geoegelohi,

Great job! I am sure it sounds incredible. My next step is building some speakers.

there are a few amps that run Class A up to between 10 and 25 watts before switching to Class A/B. But 25 watts in a 90db efficient speaker is about 103db, which is pretty loud on an average. In fact, at normal listening levels, you might not hit 103db even on peaks or heavy bass notes. Those amps dont use as much power when idling and dont get quite as not. My Dussun V6i, Musical Fidelity M3, Nobis Convigore and Classe 100 all run that way and sound pretty good.

03-02-12: :Manitunc. Those amps don't use as much power when idling and don't get quite as not. My Dussun V6i, Musical Fidelity M3, Nobis Convigore and Classe 100 all run that way and sound pretty good. Manitunc:

If they don't run hot then they are not biased very high into Class A, maybe just a few watts depending on heatsink area.

"Ohms Law" simply put for the non technical to understand,
A 25 watt "only" pure class A biased amp needs X amount of heatsink area as the ML2's have I posted the link to.

A 100-150watt class a/b amp with 25watts of pure Class A bias needs up to 4 x the amount of heatsink area, even though the class A is the same as the ML2's, because the rail voltages are so much higher for the extra a/b watts, this quadruples the heat, even though it's still only 25 watts Class A.

Then there's the sliding (Plateau Biasing) Class A amps like Krell developed, but they were never as good sounding as their Pure Class A classics, like the old KSA50 KSA80 and KSA100 monoblocks all with fan forced cooling with no external heatsinks, just chimney's inside with fans at the bottom.

Cheers George