Class A amp vs Class D amp


I have B&W 802s for fronts and HTM1 fronts and SCMs for rears. I like listening to stereo and watching movies. I recently visited a high end stereo establisment and came up with two options and am trying to make an educated and wise decision. It comes down to should I spend more on the audio side and have less for the visual side or vice versa. I looked at class D Rotel RB 1091 500watt monos as three seperates to power the front and a 2channel RB 1092 500 watt to power the rears in a 5.1 system. I also looked at the Classe 5 x 200 amp which is Class A. The Classe is approximately $8,000 and the Rotel $5200. The matching processor for the Rotel top of the line RSP 1098 is $2600 and the bottom of the line Classe SSP 300 is 4500. First of all is there roughly a $5000 difference in sound quality that justifies the more expensive system. I listened to both at seperate establishments and they both sounded good, with certainly the classe seemingly superior. The question is it in total $5000 superior? Secondly do you sink $4500 into a processor that has no HDMI connects and will likely be obsolete soon, if not now. I also listened to the anthem P5 and was not significantly impressed.
ghaas
As others have said, only you can determine whether it is worth the extra $5000. It's your money and your ears, no one can make that decision for you. Some would ask if the $7800 Rotel combo is worth the extra $5000 over a B&K receiver, while others will drop $5000 on a power cord. It's all relative.

Cheers,
John
I have both a Classe SSP-300/CA-5100 and an Outlaw 990/7700 sitting in my room right now.I am considering purchasing the Classe Amp and the Outlaw 990 processor.I wish I had the Thiel 3.7 speaker..........I feel the Thiel may require more finesse than power.The Outlaw 990 processor is awesome.
Thanks for the imput. Another twist I am considering is buying a pair of used Classe Cam 400s and using for left and right fronts and filling the rest of the 5.1 system in with the Rotel 1091 500 watt class D. This would give me great music listening. The question then becomes, how would the Classe and Rotel amps blend for home theater?
My father runs Classe for his fronts, center and middle surrounds and a Rotel 1095 or something like that for his back surrounds, trust me you wont notice anything for movies.
Mixing the Classe amps for the fronts and the cheaper Rotel for the center and surrounds is not a problem, and would be the preferred way to go if you are truly sold on investing in a surround system.

However, from personal experience, I'd skip surround sound and stick all of your money into high quality 2 channel gear with a quality subwoofer... you'll end up with very good performance for movies, and even better performance for music.