Hey, Laz.
I have a remarkable facility for appearing to be arguing with someone when I am actually in agreement. Then again, my last post was so scattershot, I suppose someone could have derived just about any conclusion from it, other than that I think low-power amps are the ultimate. The appealing things about the Akai are its versatility, low profile, and ability to put out a lot of good sound for a smaller amp. I think brands like MCS were generally a cut below the big-name lables, but they suffered from the dim reflection of the fluorescent bulbs of the stores they were sold, Penneys and Sears and Wards. I'm talking about image, not actual appearance. The fact of the matter is they probably relied on most of the same design parameters as the big boys, and when they got it right, it sounded good. As I remember, some of the silverfaced MCS were attractive, and I've heard people give many of them kudos for sound over the years. I recently picked up an 85wpc Optonica, and I think it's top-notch in styling AND sound. But if I went to sell it on ebay, I would be disappointed when it brought little more than the 10 bux I paid for it. To me, it's a keeper. AND, believe it or not I'm back to the theme: One of the reasons it's a keeper is the output is high enough to easily power my AR-3As.

I like to try to define amps as how much torque they have, for lack of a better word, maybe current works.

Where a more powerful amp really comes into play is it's hopeful ability to overcome the peaks and dips in a speaker's impedance curve or chart. Those dips and peeks cannot be overcome by a low powered amp with a small power transformer (one good reason why many Home Theatre and el cheapo stereo amps suck) that can't deliver torque. If the amp can't deal with 1 or 2 ohms at certain frequencies, you are going to get frequency holes or more distortion at certain frequencies from your speakers. And good luck finding speakers that don't have these impedance dips and peaks.

Our 10 watt A-534 300B tube amp drove a pair of Magnepan MG-2's last night and we were all quite stunned. You usually want a good 150 watts or more of quality solid state to drive those. I like to describe the A-534 as having lots of torque. 35+ lbs of transformers is always a good indication of the abilities of your amp to deliver the right amount of power and torque when needed, thats why we still like most decent vintage gear. The heavier, the better.

Hope there is no big digital amp fans reading

I'm a big fan of digital amps, and i have a huge output power from my modded Super T:

11W into 4 ohms (7.4dBW), 6W into 8 ohms (7.8dBW). Depends whatever a use my B&W CDM1 SE (8 ohms) or Paradigm Studio 20 Reference (4 ohms) speakers.

I'm a bit late to this discusssion but I'll throw in my two cents on SS. I agree the more watts the better and the more metal (transformers, filter caps, heatsinks) the better. Beyond that, the quality of watts makes a huge difference. Fast amps with high slew rates and damping factors are more accurate than slow amps. I also like amps that do well in the square wave -*test*-('"). I've seen my AU-717 on the scope and it performs very well re-producing square waves. I can hear the accuracy in my NS-200M speakers as better expension both on the high and low ends. My AU-717 is exceptionally musical and conveys the nuances that I find so engaging. For example, I can clearly hear the difference between bass drum and bass guitar in "Brothers in Arms" where in a slower amp, I cannot.