I fully accept your point about the power ratings. I had an EAR 869 (13w I think) about 6 months ago and that drove some relatively inefficient Red Rose stand mounts with no difficulties - at least not at the sort of volume levels I listen at.

Having said all that I've now taken the plunge and ordered a new amp from Nick at the Emporium. I've had my eye on it for a while as it seemed like a very good price and a very interesting and unusual amp. I won't say what it is just yet (for fear of ridicule  ) except to say it's a very long way removed from the valve amps that I had discussed earlier.

I've never seen or heard one of these amps in the flesh so it's a real shot in the dark - but from what I can find out about it on the internet (which is all from oversaes websites) I'm hopeful it will work well with my system and sound bloody good. If it's exactly the model I think it is, it should also look pretty damn cool as well (which is a nice bonus) - Nicks not exactly the most talkative chap on the phone so other than the fact that it's in good conditon and it has the balanced input for my Wadia I don't know quite what to expect.  It'll be like opening a surprise early Christmas present when it gets here - I just hope I'm not dissapointed when I unwrap it

I'm hoping it arrives tomorrow so I can play with it at the weekend.

I'll reveal all next week